Released in 2010, "The Bang Bang Club" is based on the real-life "Bang Bang Club" from South Africa, the bold photojournalists who covered the end of apartheid in 1994. The movie shows how the apartheid government essentially encouraged the active hostilities between the Zulus and Mandela's ANC "rebels" in an attempt to maintain power. Ryan Phillippe, Taylor Kitsch, Neels Van Jaarsveld and Frank Rautenbach star as the four main photojournalists while Malin Akerman, Nina Milner, Lika Berning and Jessica Haines are on hand as babes.
The word 'apartheid' literally means "apart-hood" and refers to the system of racial separation in South Africa legally enforced by the National Party that governed the nation from 1948-1994. Under apartheid, the rights of the majority black populace and other non-white groups were limited while the ruling of the white minority was perpetuated. Being shot in 2009, the movie enlisted South Africans to reenact events from a mere fifteen years earlier; surely, the wound was still too fresh. In any event, the mob/fighting scenes in the black districts are thoroughly convincing, like you're watching news footage.
The first 25 minutes establish the four main protagonists and their mission to document the last days of apartheid (not that they knew it was the last days), as well as some intense scenes in the black districts. With a set-up like this and a full hour and fifteen minutes to go, I was curious where the movie would go and how it could maintain the viewer's interest. Thankfully, the rest of the picture fleshes out the protagonists & their various babes and adds interesting peripheral material, like the famous shot of the starving Sudanese child with a vulture waiting to feed. In addition, the film throws in some interesting commentary on the nature of photojournalism, exploring the morality of the gig. For instance, is it moral or justifiable to stand back and take pictures of people getting killed or intensely suffering without doing anything to assist?
It may not be great, but if you're into realistic historical dramas/thrillers "The Bang Bang Club" is well worth checking out. It's similar in tone to 2003's "Stander," another South African film, and 2004's "Hotel Rwanda."
The film runs 108 minutes and was shot in South Africa.
GRADE: B
