Review: The Bang Bang Club
After the movies Invictus about Nelson Mandela’s first months in power, and Tsotsi about a gangster kid from Johannesburg who turns out to have a good heart, the fascination with South Africa continues. The Bang Bang Club is yet another portrayal of, so cherished by the readers and viewers, slums, townships and poverty. Both in print and on a big screen.
The simplified pages of history talk about apartheid, the end of it in 1994 and first free elections held the same year and won by Nelson Mandela. What they don’t say is what was happening behind the scenes of this long walk to freedom. The Bang Bang Club does justice to the history, showing the chaotic after-apartheid period full of, shockingly, black-to-black violence.
However, the inhabitants of South African townships are not the protagonists. It is a group of four white photographers, called the Bang Bang Club, who are the heroes. Written by two of the four members of the club, Greg Marinovich and Joao Silva, the book reveals the hardships and dangers to which photographers working in the conflict zones are brutally exposed. It says a dramatic autobiographical story about the white men’s psyche being violated by murders, executions and brutality.
Because, as Susan Sontag adequately remarked, we are image junkies, the book is illustrated by the authentic photographs documenting the events. The images of blood, fire and violence are soothed by the black and white print so that they are more pleasant for the eyes of sensitive readers. Interestingly, the foreword was written by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, which gives the edition an official recognition and almost religious, spiritual dimension.
The movie adaptation of the book hosts Hollywood-looking version of the characters. Being intrigued by the movie appearance of the Bang Bang Clubbers, I compared them with real images. Neither Greg Marinovich nor Kevin Carter look anything like actors Ryan Phillippe and Taylor Kitsch. Believe me. I checked. The movie director also added a generous portion of sex, beautiful women and self-gratification to the rather modest story from the book’s pages.
Advertentie.
