War Photographer

“For me, the strength of photography lies in its ability to evoke humanity. If war is an attempt to negate humanity then photography can be perceived as the opposite of war.”

This 90-minute documentary about the work of war photographer James Nachtwey communicates best in the visual realm – and it’s interesting to see that the interview footage reveals Nachtwey as a man who speaks few, carefully chosen words. While he skillfully shares his insights and sets the context for his photos from Kosovo, Indonesia, Rwanda, and Palestine, it is clear that he is most at home using the camera lens to tell the stories that surround him.

The images are stunning, horrifying, beautiful, and full of emotion – be that of fear, anger, sorrow, or hope. And the documentary video footage of Nachtwey in these locations speaks the same if only at a faster pace.

The only negative to the DVD version that I rented (through Netfix) was that the English subtitles wouldn’t kick in during the foreign language segments.