Institute History
Description
“When I saw the terrible price the Afghans had to pay, I came away feeling there’s nothing glorious about war—and no such thing as a good war. And if pictures can help us remember, then I feel the work of Jim, Andy, Sasha and Naoko and others really made a difference by focusing world attention on an otherwise-hidden war and bringing international pressure on the Soviets to withdraw.” Thus Stephen Olsson concludes his and Scott Andrews’s Last Images of War, which profiles the life and work of four photojournalists who were killed while covering the war in Afghanistan—American Jim Lindelof, British Andy Skripkowiak, Russian Sasha Sekretaryov, and Japanese Naoko Nanjo—and traces the strong personal, cultural and professional motivations which propelled them to their destinies. While Afghanistan provides the visual and cultural backdrop for these wrenchingly tragic stories, the film is not so much about the Afghan war as about war in general. Ultimately it is a universal commentary—punctuated with searing and indelible images—on the human costs and tragic nature of war as a means of solving international disputes.