‘His name was Dan Eldon and I’d never met anyone like Dan Eldon. He’d blaze into a restaurant, snap a stiff salute to the waiters, flick them a cassette, and the next thing I’d know, there would be one white face in the middle of a circle of waiters, everyone grooving together and singing out loud in once voice with several different accents: “Fight the power! We got to fight the powers that be!”’
From Love Africa, by Jeffrey Gentlemen
But who was Dan Eldon? And where did he acquire such powers?
The Journey is the Destination, a 2016 biopic about his life, set out to answer such questions – and more.
***
The film stars Ben Schnetzer as Dan Eldon – a talented photojournalist, who was killed by a mob, aged 22, whilst working for Reuters in Somalia.
Born in Britain to an American mother and British father, he moved to Kenya aged 7. Our journey with him begins upon his graduation from one of Nairobi’s International Schools.
Spurning university, he leads a motley crew (including a young Christopher Nolan) to deliver aid to refugees on the border of Malawi and Mozambique. At this point his friends head home, driving his beloved Land Rover, Deziree, back to Kenya.
But Dan stays on the road, true to his motto that “safari is a way of life”. Camera in hand, he ends up in South Africa at the end of apartheid and falls in with a bunch of war reporters. Keen to prove his talent he follows them to Somalia, where they are covering the 1992 famine.
The film then follows his adventures as he hops back and forth between Nairobi and Mogadishu, falling further in love with both people and profession in the latter. Family and friends alike fail to dissuade him from this dangerous cause.
But slowly we witness both acceptance and understanding – from his mother, sister and his lover – “Saba the great, Saba the magnificent” – on why he has chosen this path.
There is a youthful, somewhat naive, feel to the film, which at times I dislike. Yet it is perhaps reflective of this young maverick. And certainly offsets the horrors of famine-stricken Somalia.
Schnetzer is fantastic as Eldon, oozing both charisma and verve. And he is backed up by steady performances from Kelly McDonald, as his mentor Duff, and Shaffi, the sole journalist who survived that fateful day.
From the brief material I have read and seen of Eldon, I think the film does a good job of depicting him. Bold and charming, he appears to not only be surviving but also thriving in war-torn Somalia. Wherever he goes he connects with people – be it locals, UN peacekeepers or members of the press corps. And all these encounters make for material that goes in his many journals.
Upon his untimely death, Eldon’s family found seventeen of these bound collages. Jeffrey Gettleman, now an NYT journalist, recalls Dan spending hours assembling these feats of creativity – combining photos with doodles, stamps, quotes, paint – even feathers. The title of the film (another motto Eldon is said to have lived by) features heavily throughout.
Keen to emphasise his artistic persuasion, Director Bronwen Hughes adds flashes of animation to the screen throughout. This is one aspect that will divide viewers. But I think she gets it right.
There have been documentaries, like Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck, that combine interviews with animated sequences to great effect – something I perhaps thought would work well in this instance. And whilst I am sure there is some incredible footage of Eldon from his (now) famous filmmaking pals (there were, in fact, two future Oscar winners on that road trip to Malawi) perhaps, given the circumstances of his death, a fictive rendition, complete with animation, was the right choice.
For the film ends with his tragic and untimely passing.
But for those like me, who struggle to watch this final episode, you will be heartened to know that the name of our protagonist lives on.
The Dan Eldon Place of Tomorrow, in Nairobi, is a living memorial to this talented and driven young man. And it continues to teach young people teamwork, leadership and creativity – qualities that were most valued in Dan.
His mother, Kathy Eldon, has also had his journals turned into books. And the real things have made several worldwide tours across university campuses, inspiring the next generation of artists, activists and photojournalists.
So what are you waiting for? Go and watch the film – tonight.
Sources
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/sep/09/the-journey-is-the-destination-review-ben-schnetzer
