Robert Mapplethorpe

The Robert Mapplethorpe documentary from 1988one year before he diedis an excellent examination of one of the most controversial of American photographers British documentarian Nigel Finch does an outstanding job fusing interviews with Mr Mapplethorpe himself with critic and author Edmund White and with several of Mapplethorpes subjects as well with numerous shots of the mans work Mapplethorpe gay did not hesitate to photograph what he wanted to without fear of reprisal or censorship Indeed a good number of his pieces were not shown in the documentary at its original airing on PBS with the comment Considered Unsuitable for Viewing On This Transmission His openly sexual work can at times be more than shocking but it is always powerful and direct as critic Lynn Davies says in the documentary he did not pose people but photographed them doing what they would normally do in the course of their lives