The Bang Bang Club (film)

{{Infobox film

| name = The Bang Bang Club

| image = The-bang-bang-club-film.jpeg

| alt =

| caption = Theatrical release poster

| director = Steven Silver

| producer = {{Plainlist|

Adam Friedlander
Daniel Iron
Lance Samuels

}}

| screenplay = Steven Silver

| story = {{Plainlist|

}}

| starring = {{Plainlist|

Taylor Kitsch
Ryan Phillippe
Frank Rautenbach
Neels Van Jaarsveld
Malin Åkerman
Patrick Lyster
Russel Savadier

}}

| music = Philip Miller

| cinematography = Miroslaw Baszak

| editing = {{Plainlist|

Ronald Sanders
Tad Seaborn

}}

| distributor = Entertainment One

| released = {{Film date|2010|09|15|TIFF|2011|05|06|Canada|df=yes}}

| runtime = 106 minutes

| country = {{Plainlist|

Canada
South Africa

}}

| language = {{Plainlist|

English
Zulu
Xhosa
Afrikaans

}}

| gross = $221,292

}}

The Bang Bang Club is a 2010 Canadian-South African biographical drama film written and directed by Steven Silver and stars Ryan Phillippe as Greg Marinovich, Malin Åkerman as Robin Comley, Taylor Kitsch as Kevin Carter, Frank Rautenbach as Ken Oosterbroek and Neels Van Jaarsveld as João Silva. They portray the lives of four photojournalists active within the townships of South Africa during the apartheid period, particularly between 1990 and 1994, from when Nelson Mandela was released from prison to the 1994 elections.

It is a film adaptation of the book The Bang-Bang Club: Snapshots from a Hidden War co-written by Greg Marinovich and João Silva who were part of the group of four photographers known as the Bang-Bang Club, the other two members being Kevin Carter and Ken Oosterbroek.

Plot

The film tells the story of four young men and the extremes they went to in order to capture their pictures in the days prior to the downfall of apartheid in South Africa.{{cite magazine |url=http://www.tribute.ca/tiff/index.php/2010/09/16/steven-silver-frank-rautenbach-the-bang-bang-club/ |title=Steven Silver & Frank Rautenbach (The Bang Bang Club) Interview |first=Toni-Marie |last=Ippolito |date=16 September 2010 |magazine=Tribute |access-date=29 September 2019}}

Cast

;The Bang-Bang Club members

;Other roles

Patrick Lyster as James Nachtwey
Russel Savadier as Ronald Graham
Alf Kumalo as himself

Distribution

The film had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).{{cite web |url=http://tiff.net/filmsandschedules/tiff/2010/bangbangclub |title=The Bang Bang Club |author= |date=2010 |website=Toronto International Film Festival |access-date=29 September 2019 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101201184524/http://tiff.net/filmsandschedules/tiff/2010/bangbangclub |archive-date=1 December 2010}}{{cite web |url=http://www.digitalhit.com/galleries/38/569/ |title=The Bang Bang Club premiere - 35th Toronto International Film Festival |last=Evans |first=Ian |date=2010 |website=DigitalHit.com |access-date=7 April 2012}} Entertainment One has distribution rights for Canada. Tribeca Film acquired American distribution rights. It was released theatrically in the United States on 22 April 2011.{{cite magazine |url=http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/risky-business/tribeca-fest-makes-bang-bang-172371 |title=Tribeca Fest Makes 'The Bang Bang Club' and 'Last Night' Available on VOD |last=Fernandez |first=Jay A. |date=29 March 2011 |magazine=The Hollywood Reporter |access-date=29 September 2019 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110416111054/http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/risky-business/tribeca-fest-makes-bang-bang-172371 |archive-date=16 April 2011}} According to The Numbers, the film was only shown in nine theatres in the US where it earned $124,791.{{cite web |url=http://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Bang-Bang-Club-The |title=The Bang Bang Club (2011) |website=The Numbers |access-date=29 September 2019}}

Reception

The Bang Bang Club received mixed reviews. {{As of|December 2024}}, it holds a 49% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 49 reviews, with an average rating of 5.8/10.{{cite web |title=The Bang Bang Club |url=http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/bang_bang_club/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241112004036/http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/bang_bang_club/ |archive-date=12 November 2024 |access-date=14 December 2024 |website=Rotten Tomatoes}}

Judith Matloff, a veteran foreign correspondent and contributing editor at Columbia Journalism Review{{cite web |url=https://www.linkedin.com/in/judith-matloff-26439933/?ppe=1 |title=Judith Matloff |website=LinkedIn |access-date=29 September 2019}} said that the film was "the latest Hollywood production to get the role of the conflict correspondent wrong".{{cite magazine |last=Matloff |first=Judith |date=August 2011 |title=Bang Bang Off Target |url=http://archives.cjr.org/review/bang_bang_off_target.php |url-access=registration |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170926100811/http://archives.cjr.org/review/bang_bang_off_target.php |archive-date=26 September 2017 |access-date=29 September 2019 |magazine=Columbia Journalism Review}} Matloff wrote: "But the reporters and photographers stationed in South Africa at the time were also compassionate human beings who exposed themselves to danger because they wanted to record history. This doesn't particularly come through in the film. Instead, Silver plays to the Hollywood stereotype of journalists as heartless outsiders. After a fun day taking pictures of black people massacring each other, the lads go back to the white suburbs and party — the implication being that the bloodshed is a game to them." Matloff worked with Marinovich and knew Silva, as she was a member of the Johannesburg press corps in the early 1990s. She wrote that Marinovich had disassociated himself from the film version. "It has the same title but it is not the same story. It's not my life. I don't see the character as me."

In The Guardian, Miriam Brent said "Frustratingly, though, while the film poses pertinent questions about when to put the camera down, it shies away from delving deeper into these moral dilemmas and the emotional strain faced by combat photographers. Instead we're introduced to a testosterone-fuelled world in which dodging bullets is just another way of getting kicks before the partying starts. … It's just a shame the accomplished cinematography isn't matched by a script that lets the true bravery and accomplishments of combat photojournalists shine through, as they deserve."{{cite news |last=Brent |first=Miriam |date=25 April 2011 |title=The Bang Bang Club – review |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2011/apr/25/bang-bang-club-review |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305112239/https://www.theguardian.com/film/2011/apr/25/bang-bang-club-review |archive-date=5 March 2016 |access-date=29 September 2019 |newspaper=The Guardian |location=London, UK}}