Customer Reviews

The Photographer: Into War-torn Afghanistan with Doctors Without Borders

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It's not what you think. That's the thing that came to my mind when I began reading this photography book. It's not really a photography book, it's an essay, it's a comic, it's contemporary, it's graphics, it's an illustrated adventure from 1986 and it's a true story.

I began reading it as I had requested it from the publisher for review. Most of the time I browse books, assimilate the essence of it, write about it and move to the next project. Not so this time.

First of all I have great respect for Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), an organization that I supported when photographer Fernando Bengoechea (one of my photographers) vanished in the Asian Tsunami. The work that they do can't be put into words. I pay my respect to any nurse or doctor who will agree to be smuggled into a country torn apart by war (Afghanistan) so that they can set up hospitals and provide medical care in the most rudimentary conditions. To go places where the locals might not even have a word called "healthcare" is an undertaking far beyond my Westerner imagination. This is the work of pure love, dedication and it holds a sense of purpose that most people might not ever find in a lifetime. This comes through clearly throughout the book.

Photojournalist Didier Lefèvre joined a team of Doctors Without Borders in 1986 and followed them into Afghanistan to illustrate their efforts to help ease the suffering of the people by providing medical services. The country was literally torn apart by the war between the Soviet Union who invaded Afghanistan and the Afghan Resistance supported by America and other Western Countries. You know one part of this story. One Arab player rose through the ranks helping Afghanistan freeing itself from the occupant. His name: Osama Bin Laden who was thought to be an ally in this war. He made donations to the Afghan refugee camps in Pakistan (the largest held a staggering 4 million refugees). This project was facilitated by the CIA, The Pakistani secret service, the Inter-Services Intelligence.

Once the Soviets retreated there was no peace but extremists took over and created even more war and conflict amongst the people. The American people were presented with a steep price ticket for getting involved on September 11, 2001.

This is the backdrop of the story. A mess that I cannot really understand enough because I don't know enough about it, really. So I begin reading. The book is illustrated much like a comic book and it is Didier's photographs that fill in the story. I find myself reading and looking at the image thinking, this is not just a story, this happened. And I read, and read and read.

"You know, for example, if you have an aperture of 11 with a shutter speed of 1/60th, and you decide to close the diaphragm down to 5-6 for a shallower depth of field, you'll automatically have to increase shutter speed by two stops". "Hm". "That becomes second nature. But of course being able to produce a technically good picture doesn't mean you'll make great pictures. For great pictures you really have to tear your eyes out. I want to pour all my energy into improving my photography. I want to take good pictures." "And what is a good picture?" "I don't know."

It is a story so well told that it draws you in- completely. A documentary as good as as it gets. Photojournalism as it is intended to be - an eye witness account shown to us image by image. Told by a naive and at first innocent photographer who is in way over his head but somehow manages. Illustrated with humor and pictures so simplistic and gripping. Each a testament to how incredibly lucky we are to live in peace and in a democratic environment. A journey serving as a dark reminder that even idealistic and well meaning people can die or get very ill.

Didier suffered from chronic furunculosis and lost fourteen teeth after the mission. A consequence of malnutrition, exhaustion and the incredible stress. Unfortunately Didier saw only modest success in his lifetime, he passed away in January 2007 of heart failure at only 49. "The Photographer" has sold over 250,000 copies (a number unheard of for a photography book) in France alone. It has won several awards since.

The book says about Didier Lefèvre "His work and character, both of which were outstanding, remain mostly to be discovered."

What Emmanuel Guibert has done with the book is for lack of a better word amazing. Was it not for his graphics and the way he has put it together - we wouldn't be able to read it. Emmanuel makes us watch and observe the story. His illustrations give us a much needed rest during the heartbreak we see. Doubtful that it could have been told in a more suitable way. This holds true especially for our society that doesn't like to be confronted with the realities of what war really looks like for those who are in it.

To sum it up, it is not an easy book. It will make you think, ponder and perhaps you may get angry on why war is still tolerated. But you read it anyway and you think about it some more.

The beauty is, this is what Didier Lefèvre had set out to do. To tell a story as a photojournalist and he has done it masterfully and with heart. I am with him through the journey, I know when he is happy that he can capture through the lens of the camera what he can't bare to watch with his eyes open.

And I cry when he cries.

[...]

First, if you want to get the most out of this book buy a magnifying glass (mine cost $1 at CVS) - there are very small reproductions of contact photos containing great detail.
Second, "graphic-novel" seems a misnomer, as this is not a novel. Perhaps graphic-photojournalism better describes this memoir of the second author's experiences traveling to Afghanistan with MSF in 1986, the wonder and the horror captured by B&W photos when they exist and by the first author's drawings when they do not.

The book has 3 parts: the trip in, the medical mission, the trip out. Each part features, for me, a particularly moving photo. Part 1 begins in Pakistan where the photographer, Didier, acculturates first to Peshawar and the MSF team, then to the Afghans and the stark landscape in which they live, captured in the photo of the donkey and its rescuers recuperating on a rock in the middle of a shallow rushing Afghan river (see promo material above). Part 3 follows Didier's near catastrophic attempt to walk back to Pakistan without the MSF team, culminating in the nightmare photos of his beleaguered horse and the landscape in which he expected to die. Part 2 is harrowing in its depiction of human suffering in the Badakshan MSF clinic. Most moving to me is the two-page sequence of the emotions of a young girl treated for a burned hand. Other photos straight-forwardly document more ghastly injuries.

Babur wrote of his campaign into Afghansitan, as did some 19th century English explorer/soldiers, but there is a recent canon of writings of westerners traveling here: R Byron, early 30s; E Newby, late 50s; D Murphy early 60s; P Levi early 70s; J Elliot, late 70s-mid 80s; R Stewart, 02; and (though it's a different sort of book) S Chayes, 02-05. To this add The Photographer. Together they form a picture of honorable people (actually a variety of ethnic groups of honorable peoples) living tenaciously, very close to the earth, besieged and mistreated by invading forces. From the 50s-early 70s, it looked like the country had a chance to offer many of its citizens a decent life. But more chilling than the worst suffering depicted in this book is Sarah Chayes's discussion of the effects of 30 years of war/violence on the operation of Afghan society. If this book moves you, consider reading hers.

So why only 4 stars? At some level the book does not work perfectly for me, though I recommend it highly. It may be that the back and forth between the detail of the photos and the economy of the graphics is distracting. It may be that I never really connected with Didier the way I did with the young Marjane Satrapi in Persepolis. Hard to say... but I'm still very glad that we have it.

This just sucks you in as you read. I'm not a fan of graphic novels, but this transcends that genre, melding photography with drawing to tell the story of a Doctors beyond Borders mission to Afghanistan during the Soviet occupation there. Not only a great story, but it provides useful background to current events.

Beyond the headlines, behind the countless stories of war in Afghanistan, and what it means to live there now, lie millions of stories. Human stories, personal histories, and day-to-day activities that can be downright banal if not for the war, religion, and politics that constantly affect everything and everyone living there. There is always the question of how we got here, how Afghanistan reached this point in its history, and what we in North America don't understand about the country.

The Photographer does not exactly sum up everything, but that's not its job. Its role is a deceptively simple one. It's "merely" the story of a photographer, Didier Lefèvre, hired to document the work of several physicians working for Doctors Without Borders in Afghanistan in July 1986. To say it's informative is an understatement.

What Lefèvre experienced--beginning with adjusting to the heat, followed by learning to acclimate socially in this conservative country--is epic in scale, and the book's heft gives proper exposure to Lefèvre's life. The Photographer was originally published in Lefèvre's native France, where it's sold 250,000 copies. Now a worldwide phenomenon, its U.S. release is an event, as it should be. The story deserves it. Lefèvre deserves it.

It's hard to describe what Lefèvre went through in a short synopsis. He returned with 4,000 photos, substantially fewer teeth and less body weight, and a severe case of exhaustion. In the book, he goes through a cute "initiation" from the doctors, earns their trust and respect, and then becomes part of this culture and society that is at once so fascinating and so foreign to him.

The thousands of photos Lefèvre took remained unpublished for the most part for decades after his return. It was his stories of his time there that got the most airing, but mostly only for his friends. One of those friends, Emmanuel Guibert (Alan's War), became the conduit for creating The Photographer, and the book is richer for it. Guibert has a knack for lending his subtle pencils to true life stories, and the way his artwork seamlessly blends in with Lefèvre's photographs is brilliant. That's in large part due to the stellar work of designer Frédéric Lemercier.

An afterword to The Photographer gives an update on the key players of the story, which is a thankfully thorough explanation for readers, who will inevitably be left craving more. Lefèvre was indeed someone whose eyes opened up new insights for others. That he shared them in this remarkable book is a wonderful statement about his life and a powerful way to remember someone who did more than his part to help us understand the world a little bit better.

-- John Hogan

The decades of war in Afghanistan remains such a mystery for so many that words alone may not deliver a true understanding of the region, its people and the various local factions that have incredible significance in the international chess game of politics.

This incredible memoir that mixes stunning photography with powerful comic art is presented by Didier Lefevre, Emmanuel Guibert and Frederic Lemercier. Lefevre took photographs for Doctors Without Borders as a village clinic was being established in the Hindu Kush mountains.

The rugged and stark terrain comes alive through the resiliency of people who want normalcy in their lives. The unique presentation of material chronicles an important angle in an ongoing tragic story of war and peace.

We bought this book as an inspiration to begin NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), since we had heard from a friend that it was in a style resembling the one we intended to use for our story. It's a fabulous book, with great art and amazing photos. Not to mention that the story is fascinating, and I only wish I were as brave...

This product was supposed to be brand-new, but there are dirt smudges all over the sides of the pages as well as a large black dot. I'm not happy with the quality of the product.

The Photographer is without a doubt within the top ten books of my collection. I have recently become a fan of the graphic novel and consider this among its best expressions. If you are not yet a fan, don't let that put you off. True, it is more than graphic novel. The blending of what must be award winning pictures from Afghanistan with the carefully drawn characters and situations makes this book compelling and fun to read. It may be trite to say, but you do feel like you are there, something hard to achieve with straight narrative.

The story is a simple one, of a caravan moving through remote regions of the war torn country to deliver medical supplies and aid. What could have been told in essay form or as a short memoir and succeeded well enough became a timeless lens on a special place and journey.

There are photographs of the men (and one important woman) who make the dangerous trip. In the beginning, you see the secret handshake as they negotiate for their pack animals. This is but one small example of the wonders in this volume.

Giving this book five stars felt a little unfair...it deserves six...as do the men and women of Doctors Sans Frontiers.

This is a beautiful story. The images, pictures, colors make for the most intense movie ever and the story is Afghanistan as seen by Didier and not by politicians or sentimentalists.
Great translation as well.

The Photographer: Into War-Torn Afghanistan with Doctors Without Borders by Didier Lefèvre (the photojournalist), Emmanuel Guibert (the graphic artist) and Frederic Lémércier, translated from the French. A creative solution to a problem: what do you do with reels of stunning photos from the Russian-Afghan war after the talented photographer has died? Answer: use his proof sheets and journal notes and supplement them with graphic panels. This combination memoir of a naïve young man's first trip to the battlefield and his excellent and candid photos of DWB in action are augmented by "comic-strip" panels to fill in the blanks in the adventure. It works extremely well. It is, moreover, a good story that also deepens our understanding of Afghanistan while highlighting the modus operandi of dedicated NGO medical personnel in a war zone. Didier is young and innocent, and, thus, brave. He sets out to return from the field alone. He is kidnapped, robbed, close to death, in desperate straits before a local chieftain saves him. A dramatic story, well told. And, now that bloggers are running around the world reporting on trouble spots, this should be required preparatory reading so they don't blunder across boundaries and become the news themselves.