Tribute to Photojournalist Tim Hetherington is About Wanting to Be at the Frontline of a War

By Gregory Crofton

Sebastian Junger — author of “A Perfect Storm,” “A Death in Belmont,” and most recently “War,” — typically works as a print journalist writing books and articles. But his latest project is a documentary about the life of his friend Tim Hetherington, a photojournalist who often covered war, and died doing so in Libya in 2011.

“WHICH WAY IS THE FRONTLINE FROM HERE? THE LIFE AND TIME OF TIM HETHERINGTON” is an emotional exploration of what it takes, and how someone becomes, a war photographer.

The title of the documentary is from Hetherington himself. It was something he said riding in a car with fellow journalists on the day he died. Junger and Hetherington became friends while collaborating on “RESTREPO,” a documentary that examines men at war, living life at a dangerous U.S. Army outpost in Afghanistan.

“WHICH WAY IS THE FRONTLINE FROM HERE?” includes too much footage from the “RESTREPO” days. I was left wanting more about Hetherington’s younger days. Regardless, as a journalist, I was left inspired by Junger’s film, something that was done tastefully and in a timely fashion, and both of these things increase the power of Hetherington’s story.