Films A-Z
Fixer: The Taking of Ajmal Naqshbandi
Fixer: The Taking of Ajmal Naqshbandi
Ian Olds / USA / 2009 / 84 min.
This intense film by Ian Olds takes us right to the frontline of war reporting. Ajmal Naqshbandi is a young journalist and translator regarded as Afghanistan's best fixer. His work includes facilitating interviews with Taliban fighters. Just how dangerous this work actually is becomes clear when he and an Italian reporter are taken captive - and Ajmal is executed a few days later. Christian Parenti, a US journalist who had used him as a fixer, looks into the reasons why only the Italian was released, at the same time providing an insight into everyday life in the war-torn state. Chilling footage of the abduction and improvised interviews with Taliban members - who suspect every journalist of espionage - clearly document just what war reporters go through in Afghanistan. The tragic fate of Ajmal illustrates what sort of value is placed on a human life in that country.
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