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Perhaps some of the most famous pictures of the twentieth century depicts a nude child, her limbs extended, her expression distorted in terror, her body burned and flaking. She can be seen dashing toward the photographer after fleeing a napalm attack during the Vietnam War. To her side, other children also run out of the bombed hamlet in the area, with a background of thick fumes and the presence of military personnel.

The Worldwide Influence of a Single Image

Just after its distribution in the early 1970s, this image—officially called "Napalm Girl"—became an analog hit. Seen and analyzed by countless people, it's generally credited for energizing global sentiment opposing the US war in Southeast Asia. A prominent author afterwards remarked how this profoundly unforgettable photograph featuring the young Kim Phúc in distress probably did more to increase public revulsion against the war compared to a hundred hours of televised violence. A renowned English war photographer who covered the fighting called it the ultimate photo of the so-called the televised conflict. A different experienced war journalist declared that the image stands as simply put, among the most significant images ever made, particularly of the Vietnam war.

A Long-Standing Claim Followed by a New Assertion

For 53 years, the image was attributed to Huynh Cong “Nick” Út, a young local photojournalist on assignment for a major news agency at the time. But a provocative new film released by a streaming service argues that the iconic photograph—often hailed to be the peak of combat photography—may have been taken by someone else present that day in the village.

According to the investigation, the iconic image may have been taken by an independent photographer, who offered the images to the AP. The claim, and its subsequent investigation, originates with a man named Carl Robinson, who alleges that the dominant editor instructed the staff to change the image’s credit from the stringer to Nick Út, the only agency photographer on site that day.

The Investigation to find the Real Story

The source, currently elderly, emailed one of the journalists in 2022, asking for help to identify the unnamed stringer. He stated that, if he could be found, he wished to extend an apology. The investigator reflected on the unsupported photojournalists he worked with—likening them to modern freelancers, similar to Vietnamese freelancers at the time, are routinely ignored. Their work is commonly challenged, and they work under much more difficult conditions. They lack insurance, no retirement plans, they don’t have support, they often don’t have good equipment, making them highly exposed as they capture images within their homeland.

The investigator pondered: “What must it feel like for the person who captured this iconic picture, should it be true that it wasn't Nick Út?” As an image-maker, he thought, it could be deeply distressing. As an observer of photojournalism, especially the vaunted combat images of Vietnam, it would be earth-shattering, maybe legacy-altering. The respected heritage of the image within Vietnamese-Americans was so strong that the filmmaker with a background emigrated in that period was hesitant to engage with the film. He expressed, I was unwilling to challenge the established story that credited Nick the photograph. I also feared to disrupt the status quo within a population that always respected this success.”

The Inquiry Progresses

However the two the filmmaker and the creator concluded: it was necessary posing the inquiry. As members of the press are going to hold everybody else in the world,” noted the journalist, we must are willing to address tough issues about our own field.”

The film follows the journalists in their pursuit of their research, including testimonies from observers, to call-outs in present-day Saigon, to reviewing records from other footage recorded at the time. Their work finally produce a candidate: a driver, working for a news network during the attack who sometimes sold photographs to the press independently. As shown, a moved the man, currently advanced in age residing in the United States, attests that he provided the photograph to the AP for minimal payment with a physical photo, only to be haunted by the lack of credit over many years.

The Response Followed by Further Scrutiny

He is portrayed in the film, quiet and calm, yet his account turned out to be incendiary within the community of war photography. {Days before|Shortly prior to