War Photographer

James Nachtwey has been photographing war for twenty years: Kosovo, Rwanda, Indonesia, Palestine. The documentary follows him in the field and keeps the real question open: does photographing suffering help stop it, or turn it into an image to be consumed. Nachtwey asks this himself and has no clean answer. Christian Frei's method is the film's most distinctive element. A miniature video camera was attached to Nachtwey's stills camera, so the viewer sees exactly the frame the photographer sees, the seconds before the shot, and hears his breathing. The technique removes distance entirely. Christiane Amanpour and picture editors supply the professional side. The film was nominated for the documentary feature Oscar in 2002, the first Academy nomination for a Swiss documentary, and won a Peabody Award in 2003. Who it's for: Anyone interested in photography, war journalism, and the ethics of witness. Who it's not for: The images are heavy, with death, injury and starvation shown directly. The film also keeps no critical distance from Nachtwey.