The Bang Bang Club

Sorry for the hiatus, being home for the Holidays when you're away 10 or 11 months out of the year can be a little time consuming. Now that I've had some well-needed family time, I'm back and the reviews will definitely be coming more often.

Now, to the reason for my writing; The Bang Bang Club. Directed by Steven Silver, this film, a true story, follows four combat photographers during the South African civil war in the 1990's leading to the eventual election of Nelson Mandela. The four friends became well known around the world for their photographs during the war, and two of them even went on to win the Pulitzer Prize for their work. The story is as much about their work during the wartime, as it is the way the war affected their minds and personal lives. From start to finish, a phenomenal story about real men during a terrible point in history. The storytelling, however, was one of the only things that I thoroughly enjoyed while watching this movie.

Don't misunderstand me when you hear me say that. This wasn't a bad movie by any stretch of the imagination, it just simply didn't do a bold story any justice. To start, the main protagonists were extremely weak for a movie that is supposed to portray so much pain and emotion. Silver (who also wrote the screenplay) didn't allow nearly enough time to develop the characters, much less any real relationships between them. It became difficult to know why they made the decisions that they did, because you felt like you didn't have any idea who they were. And many of them just jumped into these deep committed relationships with each other that seemed to come out of nowhere. For example, three of the photographers (played by Taylor Kitsch, Neels Van Jaarsveld, and Frank Rautenbach) were already comfortable with one another and had built relationships prior to the start of the story. But, when they brought on the fourth member (Ryan Phillipe), it proved to be a weird transition. They had the usual questions when he first arrived, and they seemed very skeptical of him. The strange part is that their attitudes toward him changed almost instantly. Without rhyme, reason, or any lapse of time, it was like he had known the others for years. It just didn't make it easy for me as a viewer to believe that their friendship was any kind of genuine. The film, running only about 100 minutes long, had plenty of room for more character and relational development. The story was strong enough to carry an extra fifteen minutes or so of extra conversations and interactions between the characters, in order to build a little background and really help us understand who these men really were.

To add to the problem with the characters, I felt that this was just a poor casting job when it came to the main roles. The movie takes place in South Africa, so cast actors who you are confident can convince an audience that they are from South Africa. Phillipe (Delaware), Kitsch (B.C. Canada), and Malin Akerman (Sweden) just seemed like they were poor choices for their roles. None of them seemed to bring a genuine accent to the table and, quite frankly, none of the three could hold their own during the most climactic scenes in the movie. Now, Akerman showed a flash of genius during a scene when she had to assist in photographing a dead South African child, but, with that exception, the three of them really brought the entire film down from what I believe really could've been an absolute masterpiece. Again, I'm not saying that any of the three had a dismal performance, I just don't think any of them really excelled or flourished in their role. That being said, the small supporting roles really gave this film some life in places where the leads tended to drop the ball. Most of the South African rebels and townspeople, that you only saw for a scene or two, really did a fantastic job at showing the pain caused by a civil war. In particular, there is one scene where a man is describing losing his son and wife to the militia, and his monologue just about brought tears to my eyes. He was so authentic, and so real, I genuinely believed him. Two thumbs up for the local casting for really stepping it up and salvaging a weak cast.

Like I said, I enjoyed this movie. Despite the weak acting and the mediocre directing, the movie still turned out to be pretty good. A compelling story paired with some solid cinematography really brought you in. I would've liked to seen it casted and directed better, but at least the movie wasn't ruined by the performances. I'd recommend it if the topic seems interesting to you and, if you happen to watch it, leave me a comment and let me know your thoughts on The Bang Bang Club.


The Bang Bang Club

Directed by:
Steven Silver

Written by:
Steven Sliver (Screenplay)
Greg Marinovich and Joao Silva (Book "The Bang Bang Club: Snapshots from a Hidden War")

Starring:
Ryan Phillipe
Taylor Kitsch
Malin Akerman
Neels Van Jaarsveld
Frank Rautenbach