Netflix acquires Bao Nguyen’s most controversial documentary
In a move no one really saw coming, Netflix just picked up Bao Nguyen’s most contentious documentary, The Stringer: The Man Who Took the Photo.
The docu-film contests the authority of one of the most famous, yet controversial, pictures taken during the Vietnam War (via DEADLINE). Informally titled “Napalm Girl,” the image taken is of an undressed girl running down the road in Trang Bang in June 1972, overwhelmed by distress following the napalm attack by the US military. Nick Ut, an Associated Press photographer, was always credited as the photographer of the picture.
But The Stringer: The Man Who Took the Photo challenges the authorship. Following a forensic analysis and testimony from existing staffers of AP, Nguyen’s documentary claims a local stringer, named Nguyễn Thành Nghệ, took the picture. The film originally premiered in January at the Sundance Film Festival, simply with a two-word title, The Stringer.
According to the film’s official logline, a former Saigon photo editor unveils a secret he had been troubled with for 52 years, which sets off a chain reaction of a two-year investigation to unravel the truth behind one of the most unforgettable photos of the Vietnam War. Photographer Gary Knight and a small crew of journalists, thereafter, embark on a journey to find the reality, in order to “locate and seek justice for a man known only as ‘the stringer.’”
“When I first heard Nguyễn Thành Nghệ’s story – a quiet Vietnamese photographer who believed he had taken a photograph that changed the world – I set out on a journey to listen and to understand,” Nguyen said. He hopes the documentary makes people curious and gives a “voice to a generation of Vietnamese who never thought their memories held value.”
Overwhelmed with the prospect of collaborating with Netflix, he is “honoured” to give Nghệ’s story the exposure it requires. Meanwhile, Ut has maintained the claim that he captured the photo of the girl, Kim Phuc Phan Thi. However, she was so horrifically injured and traumatised that she couldn’t have recalled who took the picture when it attracted global attention.
While AP probed into the claims made in The Stringer, they didn’t come to a conclusive statement regarding who clicked the picture. They, however, said in a statement, “AP’s extensive visual analysis, interviews with witnesses and examination of all available photos taken on June 8th, 1972, show it is possible that Ut took this picture. None of this material proves anyone else did.” Consequently, they concluded that “Nick Ut retains the credit for the image.”
But following an independent investigation conducted by World Press Photo surrounding the authentic authorship of “Terror of War,” Netflix says, “Their technical and forensic findings determined there was enough evidence to suspend Nick Ut’s authorship from the award-winning photograph, a first for the organisation.” An additional article on World Press Photo’s site notes that their role “is not to act as a final judge or arbiter, but to foster a space for difficult, honest conversations.”