The Bang Bang Club: Duty vs humanity

What comes first to a journalist, photographer or such other media person? Is it his/her duty as a professional or humanity? This is not an easy question to answer. The famous case is that of Kevin Carter and his Pulitzer Prize winning picture of a Sudanese girl and the vulture that was waiting to devour her. The picture, even as it won the coveted award, raised many questions as to the ethics of journalism in general and photo journalism in particular. Apparently, Kevin Carter made sure not to disturb the vulture, lest it should fly and he lose a ‘precious moment’. 

 Kevin Carter's Pulitzer Prize winning picture

Kevin Carter

Director: Steven Silver

Film Clip

Kevin Carter’s story is part of the film The Bang Bang Club (2010). The film as such is about a group of press photographers who covered the South African ethnic violence in the early 1990s. They were exceptional photographers who made news all over the world with their rare pictures taken in highly dangerous terrains of human violence. The film quite simply portrays the risk that a committed photo journalist takes just to get that ‘precious picture’. At the same time, of course, it raises questions in the minds of the audience as to why one has to push himself so hard – is it for the glory that his work would eventually bring or genuine concern for humanity? The girlfriend of one of the photographers puts it depressingly straight across to him: “May be you have to be like that to do what you do. I think you have to forget that they are real people!” Do journalists, press photographers, broadcast journalists lose their humanity in the din of getting those crucial bites and moments? The film might just throw some light on the subject. The film, though, is quite engaging and full of action throughout. 

- Melwyn Pinto SJ

Tsotsi: Loss of childhood

We hear a lot about juvenile delinquencies and try to pass judgements on them, without understanding their background and circumstances in which they grew into delinquents. Tsotsi is a South African film that deals with this theme. It is the story of Tsotsi, a juvenile delinquent. He has become so due to various circumstances surrounding his upbringing in dire poverty.

In the film, though, he is faced with a peculiar situation. While trying to steal a car, he realises that he has got a baby as bonus in the car. He has no choice but to take care of the little one. He uses his gun and muscle power to force people around him, especially a mother of a new-born, into taking care of the kid. In the meantime, he has to make a lot of compromises on his ‘profession’ of extorting people. In the end, though, his real human nature comes to the fore.

Director: Gavin Hood

Film Clip

What is unique about this film is that it suggests even deviants as having a human face. No-one by nature can be bad. There is some goodness in all of us and different crucial circumstances bring forth that goodness in all of us. In fact, he seems to regain his lost childhood in the company of the new-found baby.

The film is indeed a class art for more than one reason. The camera work is smooth and uninterrupting. The narration too has its beauty, in that it does not tend to overdo the crime décor of the theme. Tsotsi (Presley Chweneyagae) captures our attention, despite him being an ‘anti-social entity’. The film has a unique touch of Zulu culture in most parts, especially in the Kwaito background score.   

- Melwyn Pinto SJ