Hungarian born Endre Friedmann (the first of several names Robert Capa was to adopt throughout his lifetime) did not set out to become a war photographer. But fate, circumstance, and the rise of European fascism all conspired to make Capa the greatest, bravest and arguably most influential documentarian of war in the 20th century. In his tragically short career, he photographed five epic conflicts on three continents, losing his life in Indochina in l954 after stepping on a landmine. He died, clutching his camera, at the age of 41.

John Steinbeck once said of Capa, "He could photograph thought... and capture worlds." Anne Makepeace's affecting documentary, produced with the cooperation of Capa's brother Cornell, and with access to IPC and Magnum photo files, is the first film devoted entirely to Capa's remarkable life. The film deftly weaves archival material, interviews, and, of course, stunning still photos to paint a multifaceted portrait of this complex man. He took more than 70,000 pictures in his career, perhaps none more famous than "Falling Soldier", his 1936 photograph of a Spanish Republican militiaman who had just been shot during an abortive Loyalist offensive near Cordoba.

The film deals affectionately with the love of Capa's life, Polish-born Gerda Taro, who was killed in a battlefield accident while covering the Spanish Civil War with him. Capa and Taro had gone to Spain in August 1936, a month after the outbreak of war, to cover Republican resistance to Franco's fascist rebels. Capa's photographs, published in European and American newspapers and magazines, had a tremendous impact in that pre-television era. He went on to cover World War II from Italy to Omaha Beach, where he was the only photographer to touch land in the first wave of Allied forces on June 6, l944. Stumbling ashore under heavy fire, he exposed four rolls of the most famous film in history; as luck would have it, all but eleven frames were ruined in Life's London darkroom.

By the late 1940s, Capa wanted no more war, but he couldn't resist covering the birth of the State of Israel in l948. Around the same time, he teamed up with old friends to create Magnum Photos, the first and still the only international cooperative agency of freelance photographers.

Indochina was an afterthought. In l954 Capa was in Japan with a Magnum exhibit when Life needed a photographer on the front, and a deal was struck. Capa used to say, "If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough". This time, stepping on a Vietminh landmine, he was all too close. He was buried in the Quaker cemetery in Amawalk, New York. At the memorial service, the great photographer Edward Steichen said of Capa, "He understood life... He gave richly of what he had to give to life...(He) lived valiantly, vigorously, with a rare integrity."

Sam Zaitlin of Biddeford collects historic photographs and is a great admirer of Robert Capa's skill, courage, and integrity.

2004 MJFF Program Book edited by Abby Zimet