There are
many fascinating ideas to contemplate in An Unlikely Weapon:
The Eddie Adams Story, but the documentary’s public
television-like style and sometimes overly-obvious interview
selections mar a grander sense of insight. Indeed, filmmaker
Susan Morgan Cooper’s late subject was an amazing man—she makes
sure to remind the viewer of this repeatedly—but the truly
enlightening aspects of his life and his work are depicted
patchily here. That’s not to say that An Unlikely Weapon
doesn’t bring them to audiences in a roundabout way, just that
it often wastes time with material that isn’t nearly as
profound.
Adams is, of
course, best known as the war photographer who took the Pulitzer
Prize winning shot of the Saigon police chief shooting a
Vietcong prisoner in the head, right in the middle of a public
road. When the film contemplates the impact of this photo on
Adams himself, it’s at its best. Using archival interviews of
the photographer, director Morgan Cooper lingers on Adams’ unhappiness
in the image, which is telling of his roles as a photographer
and, in turn, a war reporter. He faults the composition and the
lighting, but still recognizes it as a capture of an important
moment in time—the exact instant the bullet hit its target, in
fact. Educated viewers already know how the photo affected the
war in general, so viewing it as a piece of one man’s history is
far more valuable. It’s used as the catalyst for a
well-constructed background on Adams’ early career and clips in
which Adams discusses his broader views of photography’s
importance in news. It’s interesting to contemplate how Adams’
remarks apply to a current world, where digital images are now
even more abundant and homogenous than violent conflicts.
But for every
understated, brilliant scene that An Unlikely Weapon
contains—most of them shot years ago, as Adams died in 2004—it
features a rote interview with a talking-head. It often feels
like director Cooper included so much footage with the famous
newsmen Eddie knew—Tom Brokaw, Bob Schieffer, Morley Safer, and
the late Peter Jennings—just to increase the film’s pedigree.
These distinguished men provide certain valuable anecdotes and
insights, but most of the time they converse about their old
friend and co-worker in surprisingly simple terms. The segments
are laid-back, but not candid in the way the viewer may hope.
There does, however, seem to be a consensus among them that the
image is as essential to the power of news as any other form of
truth, and this is as strong a testament to Adams’ career as
any.
One also gets
the feeling that Morgan Cooper glazes over the rougher aspects of
Adams’ personality. While the photographer is depicted as the
typical distant artist—eccentric, willing to go to extremes for
his craft, and creatively unquenched—there seems to be a darker
side looming in the background that the film never fully
realizes. This is likely because access to Adams was limited to
archival footage and Morgan Cooper wasn’t able to pry as far as she
might’ve wanted, but it nonetheless makes An Unlikely Weapon
seem somewhat incomplete. In the interviews in the film, Adams
speaks a bit about how war affected him on a personal level—he
felt so estranged in the U.S. after returning from Vietnam that
he chose to go back—but the angle never feels completely
developed. This would have been particularly interesting had it
been explored in reference to Adams’ later career choices, like
the 180s he pulled when photographing for magazines like
Parade and Penthouse. Perhaps certain things are more
powerful when left unsaid, but not this aspect of the story.
Morgan Cooper’s interviews with Adams’ teenage son, for instance, could
have gone there, but instead come across as restrained.
My criticisms
notwithstanding, An Unlikely Weapon ultimately provides
worthy, if spotty, insight into an important historical figure
who had not yet been depicted on celluloid. As a photographer of
wars and eventually celebrities, Adams was unquestionably one of
the best and, at the very least, this film is an affectionate
and worthy tribute to his career. Kiefer Sutherland provides
minimalist narration, and Kyle Eastwood and Michael Stevens
reteam to lend a polished score.
-Danny Baldwin,
Bucket Reviews
Review Published
on: 7.10.2009
Screened on:
7.8.2009 on a screener DVD.
An Unlikely Weapon is Not Rated and
runs 85 minutes.
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