Director Brian Oakes explores the life and death of his childhood friend - independent journalist James Foley - beheaded by ISIS in 2014.
I saw it at an open air showing in Newport, RI where a co-writer was there for the talkback.
-- You may remember the ISIS video beheading James Foley which caused such a stir in 2014. So the documentary explores his childhood, jobs that lead him to becoming an independent photojournalist and family reaction to his kidnapping and death. James is also portrayed through the testimony of his fellow captors who were freed.
-- HOWEVER with no disrespect intended to those who made the documentary and to James' family who suffered the loss......
The film is flawed for its omissions. James Foley lost his accreditation with the US Army as an embedded journalist for less than stellar behavior while working with them. It also states that the US government did nothing to secure his release while other governments worked to secure the release of their journalists.
The documentary omits to point out the clear difference between those journalists whose governments were not bombing Syria and the USA which was and which put it in no negotiating position. Shockingly while repeatedly stating the US Government did NOTHING - the film omits completely a Delta Force raid that took place a month before his death to free him and other journalists. The raid failed not through poor execution - the Delta force came out of the raid unscathed - but because after months of tracking his whereabouts from one jail to the next - the raid went in and just missed him as he was moved yet again to another place of captivity.
These omissions of clear fact - badly weaken some of the documentary's other assertions which one can't help question as a result.
The interviews with other captives who were imprisoned with James are overly long. Well intended though they are - more should have ended up on the cutting room floor to tighten up the story.
Though it is briefly mentioned that large press agencies have slashed budgets and that many independent photo journalists work on shoe string budgets the full implications of this are not explored. James comes across as naïve at best with no training as to how to act in a war zone. Accidental engagement and death of a fellow journalist in the front line is treated as sad but an exhilarating adventure. And though he personally chose to wear a helmet and small vest - it was nothing to that which news organizations like the BBC make their journalists wear after extensive training.
Perhaps the best 30 seconds of the whole affair is an almost throw away remark by a fellow journalist: "ISIS is at war with journalists because we tell the truth and expose their regime for what it really is" If the film had concentrated on that statement and the lousy budgets of news organizations who no longer have foreign bureau to tell stories well - leading to well intended but untrained journalists in the field - it would have made a better film.
This is an emotive subject so YMMV.
I saw it at an open air showing in Newport, RI where a co-writer was there for the talkback.
-- You may remember the ISIS video beheading James Foley which caused such a stir in 2014. So the documentary explores his childhood, jobs that lead him to becoming an independent photojournalist and family reaction to his kidnapping and death. James is also portrayed through the testimony of his fellow captors who were freed.
-- HOWEVER with no disrespect intended to those who made the documentary and to James' family who suffered the loss......
The film is flawed for its omissions. James Foley lost his accreditation with the US Army as an embedded journalist for less than stellar behavior while working with them. It also states that the US government did nothing to secure his release while other governments worked to secure the release of their journalists.
The documentary omits to point out the clear difference between those journalists whose governments were not bombing Syria and the USA which was and which put it in no negotiating position. Shockingly while repeatedly stating the US Government did NOTHING - the film omits completely a Delta Force raid that took place a month before his death to free him and other journalists. The raid failed not through poor execution - the Delta force came out of the raid unscathed - but because after months of tracking his whereabouts from one jail to the next - the raid went in and just missed him as he was moved yet again to another place of captivity.
These omissions of clear fact - badly weaken some of the documentary's other assertions which one can't help question as a result.
The interviews with other captives who were imprisoned with James are overly long. Well intended though they are - more should have ended up on the cutting room floor to tighten up the story.
Though it is briefly mentioned that large press agencies have slashed budgets and that many independent photo journalists work on shoe string budgets the full implications of this are not explored. James comes across as naïve at best with no training as to how to act in a war zone. Accidental engagement and death of a fellow journalist in the front line is treated as sad but an exhilarating adventure. And though he personally chose to wear a helmet and small vest - it was nothing to that which news organizations like the BBC make their journalists wear after extensive training.
Perhaps the best 30 seconds of the whole affair is an almost throw away remark by a fellow journalist: "ISIS is at war with journalists because we tell the truth and expose their regime for what it really is" If the film had concentrated on that statement and the lousy budgets of news organizations who no longer have foreign bureau to tell stories well - leading to well intended but untrained journalists in the field - it would have made a better film.
This is an emotive subject so YMMV.