In 1989, Reed Paget was a 23-year-old photographer and aspiring documentarian who wanted to record the seven wonders of the world on film. He decided to start in China, where he got a job teaching English, just in time to witness the student uprisings that led to the massacre in Tiananmen Square. Paget was able to sneak his film (and himself) out of the country, and next visited Vietnam and Cambodia, hoping to photograph Angor Wat. As one might expect, Paget and his traveling companion were both arrested, but upon his release, Paget discovered he'd developed a taste for danger. He spent much of the next few years scrambling to the world's trouble spots and throwing himself into the face of war or civil disturbance in Nicaragua, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Panama, South Africa, Germany, Moscow, Cairo, and Israel, which was as close to the Gulf War as he was able to get before missiles began to fall.
Reviews
Instant Favorite.
How sad is this?
Don't Believe the Hype
An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.
I received a copy of this film in 1999 and I have showed it to everyone who will watch it since. It is an amazing journey through a period of world history when some very interesting and shocking events were taking place. Everything that you don't see on the evening news, plus some real personal interjections make this a doc to check out. Paget has inspired me with his gutsy approach to documentary work, going out on his own, but i'll probably go DV and save the credit card debt. =) I hope that distribution gets set in place as my copy of the film is showing its years. Worth every award and nomination that it has received.
I recently saw this film at the Honolulu Film Festival. It was absolutely inspirational and strangely spiritual. Paget's strength seems to lie in trusting his film to become what it would become. This film questions capitalism vs. communism, among other themes without being propaganda. It says that all sides are valid.
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