«Riverboom»: Swiss reporters wander through wild Afghanistan – Culture

Claude Baechtold's crazy documentary about a trip to Afghanistan is based on images that were lost for 20 years.

What on earth was a frightened graphic artist from Lausanne doing in the “biggest minefield on earth”? Claude Baechtold, now 52, ​​explains his road trip through the Afghan provinces in 2002 as follows: He was unemployed and still mentally recovering from the accidental death of his employed parents when a casual acquaintance called him.

The award-winning journalist Serge Michel was urgently looking for a passenger for his planned foreign report. Instead of throwing himself off a bridge, the Lausanne native, who was mentally ill and career-lost at the time, dared to take the leap into the unknown. In Baechtold's own words: “Instead of jumping out the window, at the age of 30 I decided to get into a car.”

Suddenly a war reporter

It was a Mitsubishi Pajero, driven by a morally driven man who had decided to get a differentiated picture of Afghanistan's population. Especially since the picture of the Americans, who had just driven the Taliban out of Kabul in response to September 11, seemed frighteningly one-dimensional to him.

When asked which of the various allies the GIs fought during Operation Enduring Freedom, the commander of the US troops replied: “They are all the enemy. We are here to destroy them. That is the only thing that matters.”

Baechtold filmed this hair-raising statement with a mini DV camcorder that he had just bought at the bazaar in Kabul. He would later point the same device at humble beggars, local opium producers and camera-conscious warlords. An old rule of thumb turned out to be the guideline: the seemingly least important people often tell the most interesting stories.

Disguised, procedure, lost

With its colorful cross-section, “Riverboom” invites you to get to know the entire Afghan population. However, the surprisingly surprising journey is carried by its three protagonists: In addition to the aforementioned first-person narrator Claude Baechtold and his compatriot Serge Michel, there is also the cheerful Florentine Paolo Woods.

The dedicated war photographer had his blood type tattooed on his skin as a life motto: B+, pronounced “b(e) positive”. An attitude that the film also confidently represents. Instead of horror images on a loop, “Riverboom” primarily relies on situational comedy. For example, when the three travelers fail to disguise themselves as locals with hastily purchased clothes.

Or when the trio – despite warnings – ends up stranded in a river. A shocking moment that, more than 20 years later, became the inspiration for the choice of the film's title. But why did it take so long for “Riverboom” to take shape as a documentary buddy movie? Quite simply: because Baechtold's recordings were lost before they were digitized and were only recently rediscovered.

Unexpected happy ending

When he viewed this material, he recognized the true power of the amateurishly filmed images that were not originally intended for the screen.

They show what traditional journalists would hardly have filmed: the real life of three war reporters fighting for stories, money and mercy, who become good friends through their shared adventure.

Cinema release: 12.9.2024