The Weight of Indifference

Daniel Lilienthal had lived his days like a foregone conclusion in the shadow of his father’s will for him. Then he gets a camera, and the world becomes clearer.  Seeing life more in depth through the viewfinder, he begins to find the strength he had locked away. Photography teaches him that looking at the world through the lens can reveal more than the mind knows about the person behind it. Along the way, he meets Johanna and discovers what it is to love and be loved, even from within the gloom of his denial. He realizes that there can be no love—no freedom—without sacrifice.

The Weight of Indifference follows Daniel’s burgeoning career as a photojournalist through his coverage of the Watts riots in Los Angeles, the anti-war protests at Berkeley, the Monterey Pop festival, and the Summer of Love.  His newspaper then posts him in Saigon to cover the Vietnam war. There, he witnesses how the military powers can stifle the press, as they spin the war toward public relations.  The Military Joint Public Affairs Office prevails over Daniel and his crew, until they happen upon the My Lai massacre in March 1968.  Through its horror, that he makes a stand and comes to terms with his purpose in life.