It presents a two-year investigation on the matter, arguing that a photo stringer named Nguyen Thanh Nghe actually took it rather than the officially credited photographer Nick Ut.
"[4] The Associated Press (AP) has continuously presented rebutting claims and evidence against the film, primarily with a lengthy report written over the course of six months, as well as supporting statements from Ut, Phuc, and his colleagues.
[2] The infamous photograph of Phuc, nine years old at the time, was taken on June 8, 1972, following a Republic of Vietnam Air Force napalm attack on the village of Trảng Bàng.
The press also created a timeline of events and collected Ut's "strong body of work from the day" to attest to his capacity to have taken it at the time.
"[9] However, the AP wrote that it would continue to probe questions around the photograph's credit and "take appropriate remedial actions" in the event of more conclusive evidence.
[8] David Friend, writing for Vanity Fair, wrote that "the power of the film does not reside in the filmmakers' investigative ingenuity.
The movie rises and falls on the testimony of Nghe—and the memories movingly recounted by his family members, including his daughters and his brother-in-law, Tran Van Than.
"[7] The Hollywood Reporter found Nguyen and Knight's account of the photograph "convincing" and concluded that "The story that Nguyen's film methodically but sensitively dismantles is an indelible part of the collective unconscious, and a key element of the story of AP... Its response, as reported by the filmmakers, will surprise no one who’s ever been gaslighted by an organization.
"[11] RogerEbert.com concluded that the film "builds to a scene of forensic investigation that is just phenomenal as a team of French experts takes photos and footage from that day to prove near-conclusively who took the shot...
"[13] Moveable Fest similarly argued that the film's most "powerful conclusion" was demonstrating how Vietnamese media lacked acknowledgment for their contributions to the reportage of the Vietnam War.
[14] Yunghi Kim, a photojournalist and Pulitzer Prize finalist, called the film an "attempted slander of a beloved trailblazing Asian photographer by a group of white producers."