For me the 'Imagine' strand is usually helped if Yentob has nothing to do with the film, so last night's doc about Don McCullin immediately got off to a positive start. After a bit of personal history about the photographer we were taken through some of the major conflicts and events of the 60s and 70s shot through McCullin's eyes - the Wall, Cyprus, Congo; the psychologically shattered GI in Vietnam, the 'ancient' 23-year old Biafran mother trying to feed her young one, the lute playing Lebanese Phalangist. I was left throughout still unsure why he kept going back even if he did think he was a 'War Junkie'. He was somehow cold as though stopping the film makers at the door, yet he took photos which made a difference and showed that the effects of war are usually felt most horribly by the poorest, the old, the young, the most vulnerable - I was riveted through most of the 90 minutes I have to say.
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You summarise my reactions to a tee. Didn't see the start, but yes gripping, Yentob-free stuffOriginally posted by johncorrigan View Post
"...the isle is full of noises,
Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not.
Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments
Will hum about mine ears, and sometime voices..."
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One of the great and most influential photographers. He even touched on the glamourising of horror / voyeur of ditto. Interesting.Comment
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agree totally riveting .... his self absorption nearly got me, but given what he did one can see why he thinks about himself quite so much .... a major figure who is completely unknown to my neighbours, intelligent thirty something professionals who said "What was Biafra?" and had not heard of McCullin at all ....According to the best estimates of astronomers there are at least one hundred billion galaxies in the observable universe.Comment
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The relatively few moments of 1000th of a second triggering (of film photography)....the moving about looking for a shot....the lonely days/weeks amidst carnage and horror....I cannot believe he was much more candid with his media colleagues of that age; in hotel rooms, in squalor, etc....a very limited range of emotions and ideas coming from him....and his family at home disassociated....bong chingComment
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Sounds like my Dad on holidays.Originally posted by eighthobstruction View Post
EDIT: Apologies for trivialising an interesting Thread which made me aware of a programme I'd overlooked in the schedules: thanks to all.[FONT=Comic Sans MS][I][B]Numquam Satis![/B][/I][/FONT]Comment
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bong chingComment
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Taken back, last night, to those images of swollen bellied children in the late 60s was horrifying as I remembered how helpless I felt as a teen. The story about the albino boy licking a barley sugar, the 16 year old girl sitting on a bed dignified close to death were the moments when McCullin gave a peek of wanting to do more, but feeling he had a job to do - bring these images to the outside world. The story from the Vietnam Vet about McCullin staying with his unit for two weeks, part of the team, and him returning to the hotel still wearing the same clothes and standing in a shower and 'almost breaking down', showed a person of great courage and dedication and loyalty in the face of the horrors of death. Very well made film.Originally posted by aka Calum Da Jazbo View PostComment
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Also the slightly surprising tone of Val Singleton on Blue Peter launching the Biafra appeal - "It's a civil war, we're not going to say which side is right or wrong - just that ALL war is wrong"
Like you, 'Biafra' is a horror word from my childhood, and those grainy Sunday Times magazine covers by McCullin take me straight back to Sundays at home in the early 70s..."...the isle is full of noises,
Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not.
Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments
Will hum about mine ears, and sometime voices..."
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