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

I avoided this film for a long time because it was set in South Africa and I thought it was going to be political. Instead it is more about the combat photographers that live and work in these zones, witnesses to all kinds of nasty things, but tasked with observing and taking pictures only.The film has a good cast, but considering it is based on a book written by two of the photographers - one played by Ryan Phillippe, it is strange that the most visible character is Taylor Kitsch's, who steals the show with his acting.The direction and writing of the film were a little bland, though, less ambitious than the subject of the movie. I wonder if it was intentional, as to show more of the perspective of the original book. Even so, we start with these musketeers of the camera, but we never understand why they got to doing what they're doing and so most of the time we couldn't care less what happens to them.The change comes at the end, when two of the group die and we are faced with the pain of their friends and loved ones, but it comes too late and on the background of Black people finding their children murdered and having to let photographers in to take account. It felt artificial and condescending, so that is why I rated this film merely average. Otherwise, an interesting story and word watching.One thing intrigued me: from the few IMDb comments for this film, there is none from South Africa, so they must have done something wrong with the movie.

That movie really takes me out of rails whenever watching it. It makes me thinking how controversial the world is and ... When there are so many examples in wild nature for injustice and loosing life in order to gain balance, why is it so hardly difficult for people to accept the social conflicts and death? P.S. The performance of Taylor Kitsch is more than brilliant.. He made me wanting to read the book and take my personal imagination of what the real personality of Kevin Carter has been! Special thanks to the directors - Thank you for making film of that rank, i mean "think & feel", not just "pay & watch".

This is super-duper spoilery, but it's "based on real events," so suck it if you didn't want to know!-- Groupie: I know you! -- Carter: That's funny...my own mother doesn't know me. -- Groupie: You're one of those photographers, who takes the pictures.-- Robin: Maybe you have to be like that to do what you do.Those little exchanges pretty much sum up the movie--it's about rock star photographers and the rocket scientists who sex them up. It's well meaning, but feels very hollow. There are some disturbing scenes which feel so staged, that it's like the offenders are performing Kabuki theater for the photographers rather than committing actual atrocities. In one scene, there are two groups fighting in the streets with a good 100 feet between them, with the four photogs positioned to get comfortable shots of both sides. When snipers begin attacking, few people run, no one acknowledges the fallen, it's not even apparent which side is shooting which.Once they've been christened "The Bang Bang Club" (after rejecting "The Bang Bang Paparazzi"), a Colored guy (yes, still a racial descriptor in SA) asks to join the group, to which Greg reluctantly says yes, lest they be deemed "The White Boy Club." Of course, he is shot and killed within minutes. THIS, of course, pushes Greg over the edge. Greg...the guy who fairly calmly photographed a Black man get stabbed four times with machetes BEFORE suggesting the attackers stop, then continued to photograph the man as he was set aflame and running around until he was finally stabbed to death. Fortunately, throughout these ordeals Greg's editor is willing to ease his pain with her naked body.When two members of the BBC are inevitably shot during one harrowing standoff between the military and some snipers, the immediate and dramatic response of those around them was in stark contrast to their reaction to the felling of just about everyone else, ever. They are swiftly dragged out and taken to the hospital. And of course, the one who dies is also the one given the least attention, although his model girlfriend is given lots of crying scenes afterward.Taylor Kitsch's performance has been given a lot of attention, both because of his commendable transformation into a crazy South African and because of his character's real-life tragic ending. That said, I got a better sense of his drug addiction and how he was affected by his Pulitzer-winning photo from the Time Magazine article on his death than from this movie. They paid enough attention to Carter inviting a nameless groupie/teacher to a party, that I have to assume she's the mother of the child he mentions in his suicide note. Who knows, because this guy just popped in and out of the story like a bipolar ghost.