Mccullin (15)

Directed by David Morris & Jacqui Morris
Screening at FACT
Till Thurs 10th Jan & Tues 5th Feb 2013

Reviewed by Amanda DeAngeles

I arrived expecting discomfort. I left wanting to do something about my discomfort.

*McCullin* with guidance, should be shown as part of the high school curriculum. It is a fascinating documentary/biopic of a photographer who lived to see the world on its knees in times of injustice and war. Don McCullin, reporter at The Observer and later, The Times. McCullin states in a clip of an interview "in war nobody wins". He documents this statement with a Nikon camera, and frequently risks his life.

Directors, David and Jacqui Morris, have made a brutally moving film of snippets of interviews, archive footage including an interview with Michael Parkinson. You may turn away from certain images shown, but that will not cease the suffering or lives lost.

Life's too short, especially in some parts of the world. We do not see this integrity of reportage in our modern media due to abhorrent new press regulation. Much of the news we see is nonsense.

Instead, we are bombarded with repeated appeals for aid through our mail boxes. In appalling government videos asking for £x per month on TV. Atrocities against children; famines; droughts and wars are happening now. Did you give enough, last year? I'm ashamed to say, I never. In tribute to Don McCullin’s decades of effort and his truthful images, this year, I must.

Pull down the jubilant bunting. Scream, ‘enough already’, to Olympic sport and fitness. Yes, it rained! Christmas has passed. It’s a New Year. Our personal problems are nothing in comparison to others' around the world. End of the long count Mayan Calendar.

Ptsh! www.fact.co.uk/whats-on/mccullin

I urge you to watch this important film.

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