Shooting Robert King Review

• 6th Sep 2010

At the onset of this festival-acclaimed documentary, Robert King is not how I imagined he’d be.  He appears to possess the attitude of a student on their gap year rather than a serious photographer entering war-torn Bosnia. His proclamation that he has been put on the planet “to spread a message about human suffering” seems hollow and empty given that he can’t pronounce the word ‘Milosevic’.

Yet the story which follows is the universal war story: conflict, rightly or wrongly, turns boys into men and during the 80 minutes of overriding atrocities and heartbreak which follow, King grows from a photographer aptly described as being “as much use as an ashtray on a motorcycle” to one of the most renowned, respected and valuable war documenters of recent times, as well as a humbled and doting husband and father.

Shooting Robert King is a brutal and plainly truthful watch; King’s initial constant rejection from any major publicist is hugely frustrating to watch, the diary-style filming allowing for total immersion in his experiences, and that’s before one even considers the atrocities he witnesses on a day to day basis.

A certain DIY tool-centric  horror franchise springs to mind when images of old men left to die in the street with their leg blown off flash up on screen, or when the charred remains of an American soldier in Iraq force themselves centre stage, pushing aside the more commonly publicised images of impersonal helicopters and soldiers giving footballs to children. There’s horror, and then there’s horror, and like it or not, Shooting Robert King epitomises human nature at its lowest with no frills, no embellishment and no politics.

A must see for any budding war journalists and simply those who want a snapshot of war with the rose tinted specs removed, Shooting Robert King is one of the hugely worthwhile documentaries to emerge in the past decade and one which will stick in your mind like a sore thumb for days afterwards.

The DVD comes with some impressive extras, including a full length commentary and ‘making of’ documentary amongst others. Personally, it’s the stills gallery which takes the biscuit for me. After all, a picture speaks a thousand words.

Dani Singer