Reviews
"Shooters is the visual story of the members of the Canadian Army Film and Photo Unit ... This story of a group of Canadian soldiers, who carried cameras into action instead of Lee-Enfields or Bren guns in order to take “history by the neck,” is impressively presented on DVD. ... The story of the CAFPU is a visual one, and it could not be properly told without the moving pictures produced, so DVD is therefore an excellent medium. The images give Shooters tremendous impact. ...
James O’Regan ... has achieved a remarkable feat in assembling the story of a unit ... the first to provide film of the assault waves landing in Sicily and in Normandy, the first to get still pictures from Normandy onto the front pages of the world press, and the only ones to produce coloured pictures of Operation Overlord. ...
Admittedly, the first few minutes of Shooters has all of the hallmarks of one of those intense, sonorous Remembrance Day specials on the History Channel, but the unit veterans soon assume control of their story and they captivate. ... the most moving part of the DVD, watching a CAFPU cameraman film his own death over the Rhine River. ...
[James] O’Regan ... [has] produced a solid historical video-document that makes the film and picture record of a “writing generation” available to a more visually-oriented generation. ... honoured a particular type of uniformed warrior-chronicler that no longer exists." - Lieutenant-Colonel Terence W. Loveridg, Canadian Military Journal, Vol. 7, No. 1, Spring 2006, p.74, Full Review
"Thanks to these men, the world could watch newsreels from the front. They were in the middle of the action and preserved a true image of war." - Tony Costa, Imago Web Editor (European Federation of Cinematographers)
"SHOOTERS (Customflix): Made with the assistance of the department of National Defence, this patriotic doc pays tribute to the Canadian Film and Photo Unit, the members of which dodged bullets while gathering still photos and film footage during WWII. Filmmaker James O'Regan's father was the man who discovered the CFPU's most famous piece of film -- the first to show Allied troops coming ashore on D-Day -- in a canister that a cameraman had dropped on the beach. Though O'Regan's style is rudimentary, the footage is frequently extraordinary and the interviews with the unit's survivors reveal how Canadians excelled at getting the war on film. Our secret weapon: tripods." - Jason Anderson, Eye Weekly, May 5, 2005
"A new documentary by Ottawa filmmaker James O'Regan, available on DVD for home viewing, tells a remarkable, compelling story that we’ve only seen or heard before in various bits and pieces. The documentary Shooters is the full, start-to-finish story of the amazing Second World War adventures and world-beating accomplishments of the Canadian Army Film and Photo Unit." - Don Angus, CSC News, June 2005, p. 18, Full Review
"Shooters
...the remarkable story of this unique group of Canadians who went to war armed only with a camera..." - Bill Twaito, Esprit de Corps Magazine, Volume 12, Issue 12, p. 44
"Shooters has its share of "talking heads," all veterans of the Canadian Army Film and Photo Unit, but their presentations (apparently short clips from O'Regan's interviews with them) are skillfully married with the contemporary film footage. ... This DVD includes some useful technical tips for the budding photographer. ... The video concludes with a moving tribute, again using their own work, to the seven member of the unit killed on active service in Europe. It provides a sober ending to remember the remarkable work of this team of Canadian visual chroniclers."- Owen Cooke, Canadian Camera, Winter 2005/2006, p. 32-33.