Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Dying to Tell’ on Netflix, a Harrowing but Hopeful Documentary About War Correspondents

Netflix documentary Dying to Tell (or Morir para contrar) is a thoughtful piece of journalism on journalists themselves. Filmmaker Hernan Zin initially focuses on himself, and then his fellow Spanish war correspondents, all traumatized by their experiences, which range from witnessing atrocities to enduring the death of colleagues to being held hostage by hostile forces. To say it’s an intense 90 minutes is an understatement.

DYING TO TELL: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: The film opens with Zin and his camera embedded with American Army soldiers in Afghanistan, assigned to launch 15-20 mortar rounds into the dark every night. They’re detached from the front lines, evident by their lack of gear — they’re clad in T-shirts and shorts. Zin scratches “BUM! BUM! BUM!” with a pen onto the wood of his bunk, one for every time a mortar shell explodes. He states how the soldiers are too young to realize the trauma they’ll endure; “I couldn’t tell either,” he says. “I didn’t know how much of me would die.”

Zin sporadically shares his personal experiences and thoughts as he interviews many other war correspondents, who’ve reported from the frontlines of Sarajevo, Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, the Congo, Palestine and other horror-stricken war zones. The journalists talk intently about how their vocation is “selfish” because it inflicts great worry on their families; about the essential function of fear in their survival; about their depression and anxieties; about the vital importance of the fourth estate. Some managed to survive capture and torture. Others profiled weren’t so lucky — the film poignantly eulogizes them by exhibiting the importance and power of their work.

Most strikingly, Zin shares some of the images these journalists captured — a man crying ecstatically as he pulls his miraculously unharmed daughter out of the rubble after a bombing, for instance. Or post-attack scenes from a Palestinian hospital, where children suffer in great pain for no godly reason, as one of the interviewees says such images must be shared in the hopes that they’ll change the heart of someone focused on waging senseless war.

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: A number of gripping docs — Restrepo, Ghosts of Abu Ghraib, No End in Sight, Virunga and many others — have been made about modern-era wars and the toll they inflict on individuals and society. But no one has so pointedly aimed the camera at their makers (especially with Errol Morris-esque intensity).

Performance Worth Watching: Surely none of the featured journalists would want to be singled out among their peers; the mere fact that they’re sharing their stories with thousands of potential viewers is an act of bravery.

Memorable Dialogue: “It’s that simple. If I lose an arm, you can see it. But if I’m losing my soul… help me get it back,” says Manu Brabo — a journalist who was held hostage for 44 days while covering the Libyan Civil War in 2011 — on the psychological damage he’s suffered on the job.

Single Best Shot: A drone shot capturing the war-torn devastation of the Gaza Strip is equal parts horrifying and poetic.

Sex and Skin: None.

Our Take: Dying to Tell is a thoughtful documentary on a topic some may take for granted. We’ve become used to seeing powerful wartime images with news reports, almost on a daily basis — often without a second thought about how they were captured, and at what cost. You can’t overstate the importance of this type of high-risk journalism, yet Zin’s tone is well-reasoned, never sensational, and he earns the occasional dip into melodrama.

Each of Zin’s subjects likely deserves their own documentary, which is why their stories sometimes feel like a series of bullet points instead of in-depth character studies. But the collective voice Zin sharpens carries a profound message about the importance of seeking truth and clarity amidst the fog of war.

Our Call: STREAM IT. Dying to Tell is a difficult watch. Zin’s approach is pragmatic, and diligent in its journalism — he never shies away from deeply troubling subjects, but also is hopeful in the face of great despair.

John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Read more of his work at johnserbaatlarge.com or follow him on Twitter: @johnserba.

Stream Dying To Tell on Netflix