The Bang Bang Club
BASED ON REAL-LIFE EVENTS DURING THE FINAL DAYS OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN APARTHEID, A GROUP OF PHOTOJOURNALISTS PUT THERE LIVES ON THE LINE AS THEY GO INTO THE SOLE OF THE VIOLENCE TO SHOW THE REST OF THE WORLD WHATS REALLY GOING ON.
Retelling the journey of four photographers who dived into the core of the South African apartheid, with the most powerful weapon created by man kind, the camera, the movie questions when the right time turn the camera off is.
However whilst the idea of the film has all the qualities to be a real blockbuster, producer Steven Silver struggles to explore the true ethical problems raised during the 50 year violence and instead gets carried away with turning the horrific events in which over 14,000 people lost their lives, into a two hour action movie filled with drugs, drinks and sex driven males dodging bullets.
For a movie with all the capability to make people question racism, war and equality, the finished product falls dramatically short of what was expected, due to the films crisis of identifying what genre the movie is supposed to fit – action or non fiction. However in the end, Silvers attempt of making the movie fit both categories goes wildly wrong and instead leads to a two hour mess of cocky photographers and machete mad africans running wild in the South African heat.
In fact if you weren’t aware what the South African apartheid was before the film, then all the hope that watching the film would teach you about it would be a distant thought as you sat there watching a film that would better fit the title ‘a hundred ways to kill someone’.
However it isn’t all a catastrophe, with Ryan Pillippe as Greg Marinovich and Taylor Kitsch as Kevin Carter. The duo star alongside a cast full of talent and are the real reason two stars are coloured gold and not none at all.
Ryans portrayal of Greg is as truthful as they come and despite not knowing what Greg Marinovich was really like, Ryan enables the audience to see Gregs life change from the moment he met his new found friends, colleagues and lover, to the wild moment he risked his life for a bottle of coke.
And with the wild and abrupt character of Taylor Kitsch as Kevin Carter, showcasing the ever changing and unpredictable manner of Kevins life, both characters opposing attitudes compliment each other and give the movie at least one reason to watch it.
However, despite the impressive performances of the casts two lead protagonist, the film still fails to give the photographers lives justice and instead treats them as animals living a life of adventure; a cruel and unfair reflection for a group of men that put their lives on the line to show the world what was really going on.