The Will to See

Q&A with director Bernard-Henri Lévy on 1/16.

Prolific French writer, activist, and philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy has been described by The New York Times as “an intellectual adventurer who brings publicity to unfashionable political causes.” He’s authored over 45 books and at times attracted controversy for his strong opinions. His latest project, this eye-opening essay film, which also provides an intellectual history of Levy’s thinking from his time with author and statesman André Malraux some 50 years ago, grew out of his expedition on behalf of several international newspapers to places where human suffering predominates. Whether due to prolonged war, terrorism, or state-sponsored genocide, Lévy’s destinations are not only beset with misfortune but also largely overlooked by the apparatuses capable of effecting change. Journeying from the overcrowded and unsanitary refugee camp in Lesbos that burned to the ground in September 2020 to Mogadishu, Somalia, “a ghost town abandoned to the warlords,” to Nigeria, where Christians are massacred with impunity, Lévy turns a spotlight on locations the world cannot afford to keep ignoring.