“Every minute I was there, I wanted to flee. I did not want to see this. Would I cut and run, or would I deal with the responsibility of being there with a camera”
These are the words of the protagonist of Christian’s Frei documentary. James Nachtwey, born in 1948, studied Art History and Political Science. I think personally that this fact has it’s echo in his work. The movie shows a man, a photographer, conscious of the reality he is living in and making art of it. But can the war photos be called an art? Definitely. Even though the main objective of Nachtwey is to show us, people of 21-st century, that our times are not golden; that the hermetic worlds we create around us is not the only ones; that there are still places on our planet Earth that doesn’t fit in the margins of civilization - I had no doubts when calling Mr. Nachtwey’s work an art.
I think this kind of photography is the major medium today. It is surely more effective than newspapers; since we read less due to a lack of time, we just look at photos in the color newspapers. Who remember the article read about events of July, 21? I can only remember a huge photo of the destroyed bus on the front page of next day’s paper.
This movie left me an impression impossible to get rid of. It made me realize that we are so blind sometimes, even more, we shut our eyes pretending that nothing happens. If I have this feeling of losing my time by not doing something to help people a hundred miles from here, what should feel all those who have opportunity - called money these days - but not even thinking of helping the ones around them…
…and this supposed to be a post about photography.
What can I tell you? I highly recommend the movie. It is more than worth seeing it.
© Christian Frei Filmproductions