Koudelka Shooting Holy Land

Magnum photographer Josef Koudelka burst onto the photojournalism scene in 1968 with his award-winning images documenting the Soviet invasion of his native Czechoslovakia. In Koudelka Shooting the Holy Land, Gilad Baram chronicles Koudelka’s efforts to capture images that depict how the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has literally changed the landscape of the Holy Land. Juxtaposing footage of Koudelka at work with the lustrous black-and-white images that are the final product of his efforts, Baram provides access to the man behind the camera. While Koudelka is relentless in pursuit of his craft, he is also increasingly dismayed at seeing a land that is holy to multiple faiths disfigured by the architecture of conflict: walls, barricades and security checkpoints. Is it possible to make an image of a barbed wire barricade into a work of art that allows viewers to both react with admiration for the quality of the image and revulsion at what it represents? Koudelka Shooting the Holy Land shows a master artist at work. —Mark Valentine