Bringemovies
← Browse Movies
W. Eugene Smith: Photography Made Difficult
TITLE DETAILS

W. Eugene Smith: Photography Made Difficult

1989-09-25 · 89 min · Not rated

Documentary

The war in the South Pacific, a country doctor in Colorado, victims of industrial pollution in a Japanese village — all were captured in unforgettable photographs by the legendary W. Eugene Smith. This program showcases over 600 of Smith’s stunning photographs and includes a dramatic recreation in which actor Peter Riegert (Crossing Delancey, Local Hero) portrays the artist using dialogue take from Smith’s diaries and letters. Interwoven through the program are archival footage and interviews with family and friends of this brilliant, complicated man, whose work developed from twin themes of common humanity and social responsibility.

Open detail page

Trailers are previews, not full movies.

No authorized playback source configured. Use the legal watch options below.

Production details

Directors
Gene Lasko
Production companies
American Masters Pictures, Image Entertainment, RM Associates, Educational Broadcasting Corporation
Countries
United States of America
Status
Released

Top Cast

Peter RiegertPeter RiegertW. Eugene Smith
John BergerJohn BergerSelf
Mimi BessingerVoiceover
Peter FelizVoiceover
Jim HughesSelf
Evans “Red” ValensSelf
Ben MaddowBen MaddowSelf
William JohnsonSelf
Patrick SmithSelf
Stella WheatleySelf
A. D. ColemanSelf
Edward K. ThompsonSelf
Ted CastleSelf
Terrell SneedSelf
Maude CallenSelf
Norman CousinsSelf
Cornell CapaSelf
Stefan LorantSelf
John G. MorrisSelf
Phyliss SmithSelf

Title information and images are supplied by TMDb. Explore our discovery guide for advice on comparing metadata and legal viewing options.

Where to watch

Availability provided by JustWatch via TMDb. Offers can change. Provider links are listed on TMDb; full playback requires a separately authorized source.

Availability not listed for this country.

Recommendations

Cameraperson
★ 6.7
Cameraperson2016Documentary

As a visually radical memoir, CAMERAPERSON draws on the remarkable footage that filmmaker Kirsten Johnson has shot and reframes it in ways that illuminate moments and situations that have personally affected her. What emerges is an elegant meditation on the relationship between truth and the camera frame, as Johnson transforms scenes that have been presented on Festival screens as one kind of truth into another kind of story—one about personal journey, craft, and direct human connection.

Nothing Like a Dame
★ 6.8
Nothing Like a Dame2018Documentary

BBC Arena's documentary on the Dames of British Theatre and film featuring Maggie Smith, Eileen Atkins, Judi Dench and Joan Plowright on screen together for the first time as they reminisce over a long summer weekend in a house Joan once shared with Sir Laurence Olivier.

I Am Heath Ledger
★ 7.4
I Am Heath Ledger2017Documentary

The life and career of an actor, artist, and icon. His own journey through his own camera.

Naqoyqatsi
★ 6.2
Naqoyqatsi2002Documentary

A visual montage portrait of our contemporary world dominated by globalized technology and violence.

Elstree 1976
★ 6.2
Elstree 19762015Documentary

A documentary about ten very different lives connected by having appeared onscreen wearing masks or helmets in Star Wars.

Earth: One Amazing Day
★ 7.7
Earth: One Amazing Day2017Documentary

An astonishing journey revealing the awesome power of the natural world. Over the course of one single day, we track the sun from the highest mountains to the remotest islands to exotic jungles.

Being James Bond
★ 7.8
Being James Bond2021Documentary

Daniel Craig candidly reflects on his 15 year adventure as James Bond. Including never-before-seen archival footage from Casino Royale to the upcoming 25th film No Time To Die, Craig shares his personal memories in conversation with 007 producers, Michael G Wilson and Barbara Broccoli.

Baraka
★ 8.2
Baraka1992Documentary

A paralysingly beautiful documentary with a global vision—an odyssey through landscape and time—that attempts to capture the essence of life.

Oasis: Don't Look Back in Anger
★ 6.9
Oasis: Don't Look Back in Anger2026Documentary

Experience the meteoric rise of Oasis through rare footage and untold stories as the band reunites for Oasis Live '25, chronicling their journey from Manchester streets to global rock stardom.

Bruce Lee: A Warrior's Journey
★ 7.3
Bruce Lee: A Warrior's Journey2000Documentary

Documentary on the legendary martial artist Bruce Lee, with a focus on the production of his unfinished film Game of Death. Using interviews and behind-the-scenes footage, Lee aficionado John Little paints a portrait of the world's most famous action hero, concluding with a new cut of Game of Death's action finale, reconstructed from Lee's notes and recently-recovered footage.

The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist
★ 6.9
The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist2026Documentary

A father-to-be tries to figure out what is happening with all this AI insanity, and explores the most powerful technology humanity has ever created... and what's at stake if we get it wrong.

Making Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound
★ 6.9
Making Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound2019Documentary

The history of cinematic sound, told by legendary sound designers and visionary filmmakers.

Titanic: 20 Years Later with James Cameron
★ 6.6
Titanic: 20 Years Later with James Cameron2017Documentary

For the 20th anniversary of "Titanic," James Cameron reopens the file on the disaster.

Ocean with David Attenborough
★ 8.1
Ocean with David Attenborough2025Documentary

David Attenborough takes viewers on a breathtaking journey showing there is nowhere more vital for our survival, more full of life, wonder, or surprise, than the ocean. Through spectacular sequences featuring coral reefs, kelp forests and the open ocean, Attenborough shares why a healthy ocean keeps the entire planet stable and flourishing.

Deliver Us from Evil
★ 7.2
Deliver Us from Evil2006Documentary

Documentary filmmaker Amy Berg investigates the life of 30-year pedophile Father Oliver O'Grady and exposes the corruption inside the Catholic Church that allowed him to abuse countless children. Victims' stories and a disturbing interview with O'Grady offer a view into the troubled mind of the spiritual leader who moved from parish to parish gaining trust ... all the while betraying so many.

180° South
★ 7.2
180° South2010Documentary

The film follows adventurer Jeff Johnson as he retraces the epic 1968 journey of his heroes Yvon Chouinard and Doug Tompkins to Patagonia.

Finding Vivian Maier
★ 7.6
Finding Vivian Maier2014Documentary

Vivian Maier's photos were seemingly destined for obscurity, lost among the clutter of the countless objects she'd collected throughout her life. Instead these images have shaken the world of street photography and irrevocably changed the life of the man who brought them to the public eye. This film brings to life the interesting turns and travails of the improbable saga of John Maloof's discovery of Vivian Maier, unravelling this mysterious tale through her documentary films, photographs, odd collections and personal accounts from the people that knew her. What started as a blog to show her work quickly became a viral sensation in the photography world. Photos destined for the trash heap now line gallery exhibitions, a forthcoming book and this documentary film.

Behind the Planet of the Apes
★ 7.1
Behind the Planet of the Apes1998Documentary

Roddy McDowall takes you, film by film, from production meetings to make-up sessions, then right onto the movie set to see the actual filming of the science fiction masterpiece. The most comprehensive history of Planet of the Apes ever created, this fascinating 127-minute documentary explores one of the most imaginative and influential series in movie history.

Live Aid
★ 7.8
Live Aid1985Documentary

Live Aid was held on 13 July 1985, simultaneously in Wembley Stadium in London, England, and the John F. Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, United States. It was one of the largest scale satellite link-ups and television broadcasts of all time: watched live by an estimated global audience of 1.9 billion, across 150 nations. "It's twelve noon in London, seven AM in Philadelphia, and around the world it's time for Live Aid...!"

The September Issue
★ 6.6
The September Issue2009Documentary

A documentary chronicling Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour's preparations for the 2007 fall-fashion issue.

Similar titles

40 Jours d'errance : La Traversée du Saint-Louis
★ 8.0
40 Jours d'errance : La Traversée du Saint-Louis2020Documentary

The Forger
Not rated
The Forger2017Documentary

Adolfo Kaminsky started saving lives when chance and necessity made him a master forger. As a teenager, he became a member of the French Resistance and used his talent to save the lives of thousands of Jews. The Forger is a well-crafted origin story of a real-life superhero.

Leningrad. Stimmen einer belagerten Stadt
★ 7.8
Leningrad. Stimmen einer belagerten Stadt2024Documentary

It was one of the great crimes of the Second World War: from 1941 to 1944, a total of 872 days, the siege and starvation of Leningrad by the German Wehrmacht on Hitler's orders lasted. Over a million people fell victim to the blockade, most of them dying of hunger. Countless of these starving people wrote diaries with the last of their strength, and cameramen filmed in the paralyzed city. Evidence from the hell of the siege, many of the film recordings, but above all the written memories on which this documentary on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the liberation is based, remained under lock and key after the war. The voices of those who had suffered through this terrible time should not be heard by anyone, because they did not fit the pathos of the Leningrad heroic song that was officially sung. Most of the recordings come from women. The writers feared neither the enemy nor the Communist Party or Stalin, who often proved incompetent in providing for the population.

The Girl Who Wore Freedom
★ 9.0
The Girl Who Wore Freedom2021Documentary

Discover the untold stories of D-Day from the men, women and children who lived through German occupation and Allied liberation of Normandy, France. Powerful and deeply personal, THE GIRL WHO WORE FREEDOM tells the stories of an America that lived its values, instilling pride in a country that's in danger of becoming a relic of the past.

Nazi Town, USA
★ 8.2
Nazi Town, USA2024Documentary

In February 1939, more than 20,000 Americans filled Madison Square Garden for an event billed as a “Pro-American Rally.” Images of George Washington hung next to swastikas and speakers railed against the “Jewish controlled media” and called for a return to a racially “pure” America. The keynote speaker was Fritz Kuhn, head of the German American Bund. Nazi Town, USA tells the largely unknown story of the Bund, which had scores of chapters in suburbs and big cities across the country and represented what many believe was a real threat of fascist subversion in the United States. The Bund held joint rallies with the Ku Klux Klan and ran dozens of summer camps for children centered around Nazi ideology and imagery. Its melding of patriotic values with virulent anti-Semitism raised thorny issues that we continue to wrestle with today.

Vom Nazi zum englischen Fußballidol - Torwartlegende Bert Trautmann
★ 6.0
Vom Nazi zum englischen Fußballidol - Torwartlegende Bert Trautmann2021Documentary

How could a German Wehrmacht soldier become a celebrated soccer idol of the Britons in the post-war period? The documentary by Radio Bremen shows the moving life story of the soccer star of the 1950s in a torn Europe and how an enemy became a friend. With his legendary appearance in the English Cup Final 1956, in which he played until the end despite a broken neck, Bert Trautmann set up a memorial for himself in the history of sport. Already in the same year, he is chosen as England’s footballer of the year, and by his club Manchester City even as best player of all times. Bernhard “Bert” Trautmann is one of the most popular and best-known soccer players in England.

Poland 1939: When German Soldiers Became War Criminals
★ 8.0
Poland 1939: When German Soldiers Became War Criminals2019Documentary

September 1st, 1939. Nazi Germany invades Poland. The campaign is fast, cruel and ruthless. In these circumstances, how is it that ordinary German soldiers suddenly became vicious killers, terrorizing the local population? Did everyone turn into something worse than wild animals? The true story of the first World War II offensive that marks in the history of infamy the beginning of a carnage and a historical tragedy.

Zeitgeist: The Movie
★ 7.0
Zeitgeist: The Movie2007Documentary

A documentary examining possible historical and modern conspiracies surrounding Christianity, the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and the Federal Reserve bank.

Night Bombers
★ 6.7
Night Bombers1981Documentary

Recorded during World War II, this rare color film traces an RAF Bomber Command night attack on Berlin -- from strategic planning and preparation to the execution of the actual attack with Avro Lancaster bombers. Air Commodore H.I. Cozens filmed the events during a period when the Bomber Command flew into Germany nearly every night for a massive series of raids on key targets.

LEXICON
Not rated
LEXICON2023Documentary

An inspiring short film that celebrates the universal language of skiing as a catalyst for human connection. Featuring men and women skiers from Norway, France, Switzerland, Canada, the Netherlands, and Japan, this story serves as a reminder that sometimes the most profound communication occurs when words are not needed at all. From bottomless pow turns in majestic Japanese forests to the high volcanic alpine of central Hokkaido, Lexicon reminds us of the transformative power of adventure, cultural exchange, and the bonds we can create when we embrace our shared passions and the inherent joy of connecting with people from different walks of life.

Being Japanese
★ 8.4
Being Japanese2021Documentary

A documentary exploring what it means to be Japanese.

Liberators Take Liberties, part 1
★ 4.4
Liberators Take Liberties, part 11992Documentary

Based on years of research into the mass rapes committed by the Red Army at the end of the Second World War. In the first part of the documentary Helke Sander interviews multiple German women who were raped in Berlin by Soviet soldiers in May 1945. Most women never spoke of their experience to anyone, after 46 years of silence they talk for the first time publicly about their violent experiences that have left such a mark.

Once My Mother
★ 8.0
Once My Mother2014Documentary

Australian filmmaker Sophia Turkiewicz investigates why her Polish mother abandoned her and uncovers the truth behind her mother's wartime escape from a Siberian gulag, leaving Sophia to confront her own capacity for forgiveness.

ONE OK ROCK with Orchestra Japan Tour 2018
★ 10.0
ONE OK ROCK with Orchestra Japan Tour 20182019Documentary

ONE OK ROCK with Orchestra Japan Tour 2018 features the final performance of the special concert held at Osaka-jo Hall in October 2018, where the band performed with a 53-member orchestra, alongside footage from the Saitama Super Arena show. The release also includes a 100-page booklet packed with newly shot member photos, commentary, live reports, and interviews with the production team, offering a deeply engaging read.

Dream Girls
★ 4.0
Dream Girls1994Documentary

This film is about Japanese women, escape, glamour and dreams. The Takarazuka Revue is an enormously successful spectacular where the all-women cast create fantasies of erotic love and sensitive men. It is also a world for young girls desperate to do something different with their lives. In return for living a highly disciplined and reclusive existence, they will be adored and envied by many thousands of Japanese women. They will look, act and behave like young men while having no real men in their lives. Dream Girls explores the nature of sexual identity and the contradictory tensions that face young women in Japan today.

Poster unavailable
★ 7.3
Violated Paradise1963Documentary

A modern geisha travels through Japan trying to find a job as entertainer, and ends up by finding love and a job as ama, a pearl diver.

Comrades under Edelweiss
★ 7.5
Comrades under Edelweiss1943Documentary

This rare documentary was filmed with the participation and personal camera of Wolfgang Gorther, a German military cinematographer of the 1st mining division, who participated in the legendary ascent of Elbrus on the night of August 21, 1942. From the beginning of the Second World War and the last international winter sports week in Garmisch-Partenkirchen follows the invasion of the German troops into the Soviet Union: Dnieper, Zaporozhy, Kharkov, Rostov-on-Don, Nogaean Steppe, Caucasus – fighting at 50 degrees below zero, military expedition into the world of ice and snow; – ascent of mountain arrows and subsequent hoisting of flags on the Elbrus at an altitude of 5,633 meters.

Betrayed: Surviving an American Concentration Camp
Not rated
Betrayed: Surviving an American Concentration Camp2022Documentary

The story of the unjust incarceration of Japanese Americans and the loss of civil rights.

The Paper Brigade
★ 6.0
The Paper Brigade2018Documentary

Lithuania, 1941, during World War II. Hundreds of thousands of texts on Jewish culture, stolen by the Germans, are gathered in Vilnius to be classified, either to be stored or to be destroyed. A group of Jewish scholars and writers, commissioned by the invaders to carry out the sorting operations, but reluctant to collaborate and determined to save their legacy, hide many books in the ghetto where they are confined. This is the epic story of the Paper Brigade.

No Job For a Woman
Not rated
No Job For a Woman2011Documentary

Martha Gellhorn, Ruth Cowan, Dickey Chappelle: Three tenacious journalists who forged legendary reputations as war correspondents during a time when battlefields were considered no place for a woman. Their repeated delegation to the sidelines to cover the “woman’s angle” succeeded in expanding the focus of war coverage to bring home a new kind of story— a personal look at the human cost of war. Featuring an abundance of archival photos and interviews with modern female war correspondents, as well as actresses bringing to life the written words of these remarkable women.

Your favorites

Recently viewed

Watch

Choose an authorized server.

Full video from an operator-configured authorized source. Official trailers use a separate player. If a server fails, retry or select another authorized server.

Legal watch options

Official trailer

Trailer preview only. Press Play to start.

Privacy choices

Favorites stay in your browser. Movie images load from TMDb. YouTube trailers contact YouTube only after you allow external media and choose a trailer. Advertising consent, if ads are enabled, is managed separately by the operator’s certified CMP.

Privacy policy

After allowing external media, choose the trailer button to load its player.