Travels With My Camera: Dying For The Truth (1994)

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Journalist John Sweeney met photographer Paul Jenks in a hotel in Osijek in September 1991. Osijek was a Croatian town in eastern Slavonia, an interface between Croat- and Serb-identified forces during the Yugoslav Civil War, and just down the road from the better-known Vukovar. The two teamed up and worked stories together for a while, before Sweeney left.

On 17 January 1992 Paul Jenks was shot dead. Initial reports pinned the blame on a Serb sniper, but it was not long before other, less prosaic possibilities were mooted – Jenks had been covering the First International Company, a ragtag bunch of foreign fighters who had thrown their lot in with the Croats and who were based in Osijek. He had also been looking into the death of Christian Würtenberg, a Swiss journalist who had recently joined the Internationals whilst secretly investigating links between them and European fascist networks.

This is a film made by Sweeney in 1994 about his return to Osijek to investigate his friend’s death, a follow-up to his 1992 article in The Observer, ‘Who Killed Paul Jenks?‘. Sweeney also wrote another Observer article, ‘The Killer Who Loves ET And Mary Poppins‘ (published 26 June 1994), to lead up to the broadcast of the film on 25 July 1994. I have scanned both articles in, and they are available on this blog.

As with the earlier documentary about the ‘First International Company’ of foreigners fighting for the Croats at Osijek, Inside Story: Dogs Of War, we meet Bolivian-Hungarian commander Eduardo Rózsa-Flores and the supposed former Legionaire Stephen Hancock AKA Frenchie, both of whom are believed to have been involved in the deaths of Paul Jenks and Christian ‘Chris the Swiss’ Würtenberg. Neither seems particularly happy with Sweeney’s line of questioning, and both make barely-veiled threats against him.

In addition Sweeney, half-heartedly pretends to be making a travelogue and persuades right-wing politician Branimir Glavaš (at the time Osijek’s military commander and Flores’ local sponsor, subsequently convicted of war crimes) to take him on a tour of the area whilst asking questions about what went on during the war. Some of the most chilling moments of the film come from Sweeney’s time with Glavaš, a provincial power-broker in a bad suit with a friendly smile and a convivial manner.

By this point in the film we know already how a brutal, internecine war is characterised less by monochromatically-drawn good and bad than by violent banality, incompetence, half-baked idealism, a thirst for adventure. To quote Paddy Considine out of context, “You were supposed to be a monster… Now I’m the fucking beast.” As if to emphasise this Sweeney visits the Serb police post on the outskirts of Osijek, from which a sniper – according to the official Croat version – shot Paul Jenks. There Sweeney enjoys the hospitality of a bunch of people characterised previously only as ‘Chetniks’, off-stage villains, black-hat-wearing bad guys without any lines.

Finally, there are sequences with Paul’s girlfriend Sandra Balsells and his colleague from his time in Yugoslavia Hassan Amini, looking for answers, peace, closure – whatever they were looking for, though, it wasn’t really on offer.

Again, there is nothing on IMDb, but there are some skeletal production details on the BFI database.

Here’s the crew list based on the on-screen credits:

• Reporter: John Sweeney
• Research: Sandra Balsells
• Music: Jay Paine and Michael Bluemink
• Dubbing Mixer: Colin Martin
• Production Manager: Phil Robertson
• Editor: John Mister
• Executive Producer: David Henshaw
• Director: Chris Curling

Hardcash Productions for Channel Four
© Channel Four 1994

TECHNICAL SPECS

• 53m 34s
• 627 MiB
• DivX 5 (video)
• MPEG-1 (audio)
• TeleCine

The Killer Who Loves ET And Mary Poppins

Article by John Sweeney in The Observer, 26 June 1994.

Who Killed Paul Jenks?

Article by John Sweeney in The Observer, sometime in 1992.

Inside Story: Dogs Of War (1992)

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» Inside Story: Dogs Of War (1992) «

This documentary is rather difficult to get hold of, but may be of interest to those wanting to find out more about the involvement of foreign fighters in the Yugoslav Civil War, or about the death of journalist Paul Jenks, or about the activities of shady far-right Bolivian-Hungarian adventurer Eduardo Rózsa-Flores.

It was first broadcast on BBC1 on 20 May 1992, and it focuses on the various members of the PIV ‘International Brigade’ (or Company, or Platoon, depending on your sense of reality) based in Osijek and fighting on the Croatian side.

It is not clear when the filming is taking place, though there is discussion of the death of British foreign volunteer Edward White, who was killed on 24 November 1991 in Lazlovo, and there is no mention of the deaths of Swiss journalist-cum-volunteer Christian Würtenberg (d. 6/1/92) nor of British journalist Paul Jenks (d. 17/1/92).

The film features interviews with a number of foreign volunteers who fight alongside the Croats in the ‘First International Company’, a unit based in the eastern Slavonian town of Osijek. The unit is led by Eduardo Rózsa-Flores, a jovial journalist-turned-soldier (albeit one with a shadow-darkened past involving pre-Soviet collapse espionage, far right nationalism and blurred identities), who appears to have charmed his way into command of the foreigners despite throwing grenades like the proverbial child and seemingly having little military aptitude.

Amongst the Britons we meet, the main character is Kit, a career soldier from the north-east who finds it hard to adjust to civvie life, especially after the death of his wife; in Croatia he finds meaning through instruction – putting a bunch of novices through a rudimentary boot camp, and then leading them on intelligence-gathering and sabotage missions behind enemy lines.

There is also Carl Finch, a mercenary for several years who had previously fought in Suriname during the Binnenlandse Oorlog conflict, as well as (by his own account) Sudan, Sri Lanka, West Africa and “a couple of other little things which I don’t want to mention”. As he puts it, “Croatia’s backed by the West, it’s been recognised by the West – it can’t be wrong.”

Towards the end of the film we are introduced to Welshman Stephen Hancock, who prefers to go by the name of Frenchie, because he was supposedly in the French Foreign Legion; though his military experience doesn’t seem to have prevented him from shooting himself in the foot, giving him something of a hobbling gait.

In addition there is serial killer-obsessed northern bouncer Dave, who wants to know what it feels like to kill without guilt (by the end of the film we learn that he has only half-succeeded in this goal); Roy, who says his mother thinks he is working at Euro Disney; Andy, who claims to be absent without leave from the British Army; gun-loving Justin; and “hunting instinct” Andy. Basically, a motley collection of thrill-seekers and borderline sociopaths, mediocre people from mediocre places in mediocre times who have sought out an extraordinary situation in pursuit of the buzz of death.

As well as the Britons who are interviewed, there are also a number of foreign volunteers who are seen but not heard. One would appear to be the “one-eyed Portuguese called ‘Alex'” mentioned by John Sweeney in his 1992 Observer article.

A fascinating film in the sadly now-neglected style of let-the-subjects-speak documentary, and invaluable for connecting together dots for anyone interested in the involvement of foreigners in the Yugoslav Civil War.

Some basic information can be found at the BFI database, but there is currently no entry on IMDb.

Here is the crew list, as transcribed from the on-screen credits:

• Photography: Michael Eley
• Camera Assistant: Lawrence Gardner
• Sound Recordist: Antony Meering
• Dubbing Mixer: Colin Martin
• Dubbing Editor: James Elliott
• Music: David Ferguson
• Unit Manager: Lesley Smith
• Production Assistants: Julia Burrows, Vera Kordic
• Film Editor: David Elliott
• Associate Producer: Roger Courtiour
• Producer: Stephen Lambert
• Executive Producer: Paul Hamann

© BBC 1992

TECHNICAL SPECS

• 49m 53s
• 369 MiB
• DivX 5 (video)
• MPEG-1 (audio)
• VHS rip