The front line. The term has lost its meaning in today’s conflicts, where soldiers, journalists and civilians are targeted indiscriminately by bombs, and where moral and physical limits are ill-defined. Two years ago, Tim Hetherington and Chris Hondros died in Libya as the result of their injuries from an explosion on the streets of Misrata.
Sebastian Junger’s documentary about Tim Hetherington pays tribute to his friend while raising important questions about the role of journalists, the involvement of spectators, the perception of the image, the cult of the fallen reporter, and the irresistible attraction of danger. The film is free of easy answers and biased praise. Junger, like all of the colleagues he interviews, is sincere in the confession of his weaknesses. He has a keen sense of the terrain, and he uses a varied approach to take account of this new reality, seen here undistorted by the filter of the media. Junger relies on the life of Tim Hetherington for several reasons: he became an important figure in photojournalism after only ten years in the field, and was respected as much for his qualities as a human being as for his aesthetic approach, which helped redefine war reporting. Whether he was in Liberia or Afghanistan, whether he was reporting on blind children or photographing sleeping soldiers, Hetherington never showed Western readers what they expected to see.
Laurence Cornet
Read the full article on the French version of Le Journal.
Which Way Is The Front Line From Here? The Life and Time of Tim Hetherington
A movie by Sebastian Junger
Production : HBO
