The Stringer: The Man Who Took the Photo

2025

Action / Biography / Documentary / History

4
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Certified Fresh 92% · 25 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 92%
IMDb Rating 7.3/10 10 903 903

vietnam war 1970s war photographer investigative journalism

Director

Bao Nguyen Photo
Bao Nguyen

Top cast

Damien Cole Photo
Damien Cole as Self
Gary Knight Photo
Gary Knight as Self
720p.WEB 1080p.WEB
956.01 MB
1280*674
English 2.0
R
Subtitles pt  us  ar  cz  dk  de  gr  es  fi    fr  il  hr  hu  id  it  ja  kr  ms  no  nl  pl  ro  ru  sv  th  tr  uk  vi  cn  
23.976 fps
1 hr 43 min
Seeds 8
1.91 GB
1920*1012
English 5.1
R
Subtitles pt  us  ar  cz  dk  de  gr  es  fi    fr  il  hr  hu  id  it  ja  kr  ms  no  nl  pl  ro  ru  sv  th  tr  uk  vi  cn  
23.976 fps
1 hr 43 min
Seeds 23

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by paul-allaer 8 / 10

Recreating the events of June 8, 1972

As "The Stringer" (2025 release; 99 min.) opens, it is "June 8, 1972" as the South Vietnamese Air Force accidentally drops 2 napalm bombs on its own people. Out of the smoke and fire come running several women and children. A photographer takes the now infamous Napalm Girl picture and it was accredited to AP's Nick Ut. But did he really take that picture? At this point we are less than 10 minutes into the movie.Couple of comments: this is the latest documentary from director Bao Nguyen ("The Greatest Night In Pop"). Here he and photographer Gary Knight dig into the issue of who really took that picture, conducting a 2 year forensic investigation, along the way interviewing dozens and dozens of people. I found it fascinating to see how a French forensic team takes all of the available footage and photo's and reconstruct how it all unfolded. But the thing that took me most by surprise is the widespread use of local freelance Vietnamese photographers during the Vietnam war, working for next to nothing, and the correlating inequality in power and standing. How does it all play out? Just watch! Last but not least: the documentary is not titled "The Stringer: The Man Who Took the Picture" as mentioned here on IMDb and many other sources. Per the film's opening credits, it's simply called "The Stringer", nothing more, nothing less."The Stringer" premiered at the 2025 Sundance film festival to widespread acclaim. It is currently rated 100% Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. It just recently started streaming on Netflix, where I caught it last night. If you have an interest in an investigative documentary about one of the most infamous war pictures ever, I'd readily suggest you check this out, and draw your own conclusion.
Reviewed by dsb-02142 8 / 10

Wonderful documentary

Reviewed by peter0969 6 / 10

Watched at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival.Despite a familiar structure and themes of the Vietnam War, Bao Nguyen still opens up a new exploration and journey on discussing the background of one of the most famous Vietnam War photos known as the Napalm Girl. Provided with interesting participant discussions and direction structure, Nguyen does a good job doing a form of journalism work on exploring the origins and misunderstandings of the well-known photo. Going through the past and present to explain the historical moments and themes. It helps to understand the context of the war period, knowing of the troubles of the war and how the works of journalism is proceed.Regarding structure, it's solidly well made. However the documentary does over stays it's welcome as certain moments felt as if repeated with it's facts and certain concepts that didn't really wowed me. Mainly because having done a lot of research of the Vietnam War and backgrounds, it didn't hit too close with me as I would have liked.Otherwise, I applaud Bao Nguyen for creating this documentary.
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