Fear, Hate and Violence

Last night I saw War Photographer a documentary about James Nachtwey one of the best in the business. The crew used these special micro cameras attached to Nachtwey’s cameras so you can see what he sees when he shoots. They also followed him as best they could with their own camera. They had footage of him in Kosovo, Rwanda, Indonesia, South Africa, Israel and New York City. How he maintains an optimistic view of humanity through all that violence and suffering is a marvel in and of itself.

In Indonesia he spent time with this family who sleeps outdoors on a cardboard mat in the gravel between two railroad lines. The father lost his left arm and leg when he fell asleep drunk one night on the railroad line. An entire sequence is devoted to him in a sulfur mine trying to hold back the need to vomit from the odor as yellowish smoke billows all around him while he’s taking pictures of these other guys working there. They don’t have masks and neither did he. He had pictures of African famine and Rwanda genocide victims. He gets a bit sanctimonious about how his pictures are displayed in magazines right next to an ad for Gucci or Lexus.

It was interesting to see that yesterday and Bowling for Columbine just the day before. It makes you wonder if we’ll ever get rid of all the fear, hate and violence in the world.