"I don't take sides; I take pictures." So says the self-interested photojournalist on assignment in Nicaragua in 1979. And he is true to his word, too, at least until he changes his mind: "I think I finally saw one too many bodies." And then, in the face of countless black marks against Somoza (and gold stars for the Sandanistas), he agrees to stage an El Cid trick photo that, in effect, raises a rebel leader from the dead: the shot seen round the world. His photos turn out to have important uses for the other side as well, the bad side, the Somoza side. (This movie looks from the Left.) Never did a mere photographer play so pivotal a role in the waging of a war. Compared to its closest analogues, Under Fire rates above The Year of Living Dangerously in dramatic clarity, but -- despite the quasi-documentary immediacy of its style — rates below Circle of Deceit in credibility. With Nick Nolte, Gene Hackman, Joanna Cassidy, and Jean-Louis Trintignant; directed by Roger Spottiswoode. (1983) — Duncan Shepherd
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