Jim : The Story of James Foley

Foley with his four siblings had a conventional upbringing, but h was quite a restless soul as a young adult and tried his hand at all sorts of enterprising ventures like teaching kids in a juvenile detention center. However, he never really found the ‘calling’ he was searching for until in 2009 he got it into his head that he wanted to go overseas as a war correspondent. Totally untrained and clearly out of his depth, he hooked up with a small itinerant band of other freelance journalists in Libya who he bonded with and quickly learned on the job.  A handsome rugged man who was described by one of his new colleagues ‘with a jawline you could cut cheese on’, Foley simply used his incessant charm and sheer optimism to make up for his lack of experience. 

Two years into his stint there Foley was captured by Gaddafi loyalist forces and held prisoner for 44 days.  The moment the news of his abduction reached his family they mounted a high profile campaign to secure his release, and when they succeeded there was much relief all round when he was back home on US soil again. Whilst his siblings and parents were happy to have him back in their bosom, Foley however was not. Even the offer of a desk job in Boston at the HQ of Global Post, who he reported for back in Libya, was not enough to keep him from wanting to go back to the front line.  When he soon decided this is what he would indeed do, he chose to go to Syria which was so very dangerous that it would make Libya seem like a walk in the park.

Oakes makes no attempt to portray his best friend either as a Saint or a misguided fool, instead what comes over is this image of an old-fashion romantic who was an incredibly resourceful and unselfish man who never showed any sense of personal danger. Foley was simply determined to play his part in making the world aware of the atrocities that were being carried about in these treacherous war-zones in the hope that dialogue from all this information might provoke some change. However, before he could even send much footage back in November 2012 Foley was abducted and held captive.

This time however there was so much mis-information that even the State Department could not establish who in fact was holding Foley, even which region he was being held. There was eventually email correspondence from people who claimed to be holding Foley and they issued demands for an enormous ransom, which after they offered proof that they indeed had captured him, then the family prepared to raise the monies they demanded. However communication with them ended as abruptly as it had started. and as the State Department proved reluctant to help pursue the matter, it was dropped.

Most of Foley’s time held by the Syrians was recounted by some European photojournalists who were also imprisoned with him for the best part of 18 months, but who managed to be released. It is their testimony that sheds light on how inhumane the violent horrors of their treatment was at the hands of their vicious and vindictive captors.

The documentary states at the very beginning that it will not show the actual beheading, but is does show video of a shaved-head Foley wearing bright orange robes making an anti-American speech with a defiant look on his face.  It is never really clear why he was killed, especially as all the other journalists were freed. 

One of his ex-colleagues says that Foley would have been really annoyed that the world’s attention on his death was a in fact distraction from his own work exposing the massive human rights crisis in the region is neglected.  The last word however goes to Foley’s elder and somewhat conservative brother who not only deeply regretted that this job in the US Airforce may have caused him problems, but more importantly he said that he had never ever really understood or appreciated him as much as he did now.

Winner of Sundance Audience Favorite Award this movie can be seen on HBO On Demand  until 03/06/2016