We've all seen the photo. It's one of the most haunting and lasting images of the Vietnam War. And for a long time, there was no question who took it.
But The Stringer, which premiered at Sundance, posits that it wasn't the work of Pulitzer Prize winner Nick Ut. The film, directed by Bao Nguyen (Be Water), shares the results of a years-long investigation showing local photographer Nguyễn Thành Nghệ actually snapped the iconic image.
The doc is sure to be controversial, as Ut still claims he took the picture, and the Pulitzer committee agrees. (Although the World Press Photo organization has suspended his authorship.)
Now that Netflix will officially distribute the film, it's added the subtitle The Man Who Took the Photo, and is positioning it for major awards consideration. The doc will arrive on the service this fall, though no release date has been announced.
About Kip Mooney
Like many film critics born during and after the 1980s, my hero is Roger Ebert. The man was already the best critic in the nation when he won the Pulitzer in 1975, but his indomitable spirit during and after his recent battle with cancer keeps me coming back to read not only his reviews but his insightful commentary on the everyday. But enough about a guy you know a lot about.
I knew I was going to be a film critic—some would say a snob—in middle school, when I had to voraciously defend my position that The Royal Tenenbaums was only a million times better than Adam Sandler’s remake of Mr. Deeds. From then on, I would seek out Wes Anderson’s films and avoid Sandler’s like the plague.
Still, I like to think of myself as a populist, and I’ll be just as likely to see the next superhero movie as the next Sundance sensation. The thing I most deplore in a movie is laziness. I’d much rather see movies with big ambitions try and fail than movies with no ambitions succeed at simply existing. I’m also a big advocate of fun-bad movies like The Room and most of Nicolas Cage’s work.
In the past, I’ve written for The Dallas Morning News and the North Texas Daily, which I edited for a semester. I also contributed to Dallas-based Pegasus News, which in the circle of life, is now part of The Dallas Morning News, where I got my big break in 2007. Eventually, I’d love to write and talk about film full-time, but until that’s a viable career option, I work as an auditor for Wells Fargo.
I hope to one day meet my hero, go to the Toronto International Film Festival, and compete on Jeopardy. Until then, I’m excited to share my love of film with you.
