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Le photojournaliste Nick Ut, qui a immortalisé "la fille au napalm" en pleine guerre du Vietnam, tire un trait sur sa carrière après avoir passé 51 ans à travailler pour l'Associated Press.
Celui dont le travail a été auréolé d'un prix Pulitzer résume habillement sa carrière: "De l'enfer jusqu'à Hollywood".
Nick Ut avait à peine 21 ans lorsqu'il a pris la jeune Kim Phuc en photo, le 8 juin 1972. Un cliché qui allait changer sa vie, tout comme celle de la fillette de 9 ans.
L'image, prise en noir et blanc, traduit à elle seule l'horreur de la guerre du Vietnam. On y voit Kim Phuc courir nue, hurlant, son corps se consumant sous nos yeux. Tout juste avant que Nick Ut n'immortalise cette infamie, l'armée sud-vietnamienne venait de commettre une bévue en larguant des bombes au napalm sur le village de Trang Bang.
Après avoir rangé son objectif, le photographe a tout laissé en plan pour courir à la rescousse de la fillette, la conduisant à l'hôpital, lui sauvant ainsi la vie.
Au cours des 44 années qui ont suivi, Nick Ut a pris des dizaines de milliers de photos, incluant des portraits de pratiquement toutes les célébrités hollywoodiennes.
En parcourant son portfolio, le célèbre photographe se rappelle ce moment où Paris Hilton, en pleurs, était conduite en prison pour des infractions routières, ou encore lorsque Michael Jackson grimpait sur un véhicule utilitaire pour esquisser quelques pas de danse à l'extérieur du palais de justice où il allait se faire innocenter des accusations d'agressions sexuelles sur un enfant qui pesaient contre lui.
Mais la photo de "la fille au napalm" demeurera toujours sa plus emblématique. "Cette photo a changé ma vie. Elle a changé la vie de Kim", se rappelle le photographe vietnamien, qui a toujours gardé un lien étroit avec la jeune fille. Aujourd'hui âgée de 53 ans, Kim Phuc habite au Canada avec son mari et ses deux enfants.
Après avoir couru à la rescousse de cette jeune Vietnamienne, Nick Ut lui a donné de l'eau et a versé le précieux liquide sur ses brûlures. Il l'a ensuite embarquée, avec d'autres blessés, dans la camionnette de l'Associated Press pour la conduire à l'hôpital. Lorsque les médecins ont refusé de la soigner, prétextant qu'il était impossible de la sauver, Nick Ut a brandi sa carte de presse. Il a lancé aux médecins que la photo de la fillette se retrouverait le lendemain matin dans les journaux du monde entier et qu'il n'hésiterait pas à expliquer que des médecins avaient refusé de la soigner.
"Je pleurais lorsqu'elle courait vers moi", avait-il déjà raconté à un journaliste de l'Associated Press. "Si je ne l'aidais pas, ou si quelque chose lui arrivait et qu'elle mourrait, je crois que je me serais tué après ça."
À VOIR AUSSI
INOLTRE SU HUFFPOST
La guerre du Vietnam en images
Sepulveda Ferrari(01 of42)
FILE - In this July 14, 1965, file photo, U.S. Army nurses Capt. Gladys E. Sepulveda, left, of Ponce, Puerto Rico, and 2nd Lt. Lois Ferrari, of Pittsburgh, Pa., rest on sandbags at Cam Ranh Bay in South Vietnam, during the Vietnam War. They two were waiting transportation to Nha Trang, to work in the 8th field hospital. (AP Photo, File) (credit:AP)
Madame Ngo Dinh Nhu Tran Le Xuan(02 of42)
FILE - This Aug. 1963 photo shows Tran Le Xuan, known as Madame Ngo Dinh Nhu in unknown location. Madame Nhu, the outspoken beauty who served as South Vietnam's unofficial first lady early on in the Vietnam War and earned the nickname "Dragon Lady" for her harsh criticism of protesting Buddhist monks and communist sympathizers, has died at age 86, a Rome funeral home said Wednesday, April 27, 2011. (AP Photo/File) (credit:AP)
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Members of the U.S. Army's 3rd Infantry Regiment "The Old Guard," hold folded flags at the start of burial services for U.S. Army Captain James M. Johnstone, of Baton Rouge, La., Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2012, at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va. The remains of the Vietnam-era soldier killedÜin the war were identified over forty years after Johnstone's airplane crashed in Laos in 1966. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) (credit:AP)
Leon Panetta(04 of42)
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta leaves the podium after speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund's next project to honor veterans, the Education Center at The Wall, Wednesday, Nov. 28, 2012, in Washington. The center will tell the stories of 58,000 soldiers who died in the Vietnam War and will honor fallen soldiers from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta) (credit:AP)
Vietnam War(05 of42)
FILE - B52 high altitude bombers leave condensation trails while passing the town of Cai Lay in the Mekong Delta on Sept. 29, 1972, moments after unleashing bombs on a suspected enemy positions. (AP Photo/Nick Ut, File) (credit:AP)
Horst Faas(06 of42)
FILE - Associated Press photographer Horst Faas is shown in this undated file photo in Ca Mau, Vietnam. The recent deaths of Faas, correspondent George Esper, writer Roy Essoyan and correspondent Malcolm Browne represent the slipping away of a generation of war reporters that brought the reality of the conflict to the living rooms of America in often horrifying close-up and inspired scores of combat journalists in their wake. (AP Photo/File) (credit:AP)
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FILE - In this Jan. 7, 1965 file photo, Associated Press Saigon correspondent Malcolm Browne goes on patrol near Binh Hia, South Vietnam with South Vietnamese troops. The recent deaths of Browne, photographer Horst Faas, correspondent George Esper, and writer Roy Essoyan represent the slipping away of a generation of war reporters that brought the reality of the conflict to the living rooms of America in often horrifying close-up and inspired scores of combat journalists in their wake. (AP Photo, File) (credit:AP)
George Esper(08 of42)
FILE - In this Jan. 1, 1966 file photo, AP special correspondent George Esper poses with a Vietnamese boy in Quang Ngai Province, south of Da Nang. The recent deaths of Esper, photographer Horst Faas, correspondent Malcolm Browne, and writer Roy Essoyan represent the slipping away of a generation of war reporters that brought the reality of the conflict to the living rooms of America in often horrifying close-up and inspired scores of combat journalists in their wake. (AP Photo, file) (credit:AP)
Vietnam Monk(09 of42)
FILE - In this June 11, 1963 file photo, one of a series taken by then AP Saigon correspondent Malcom Browne, Thich Quang Duc, a Buddhist monk, burns himself to death on a Saigon street to protest alleged persecution of Buddhists by the South Vietnamese government. Browne, acclaimed for his trenchant reporting of the Vietnam War and a photo of a Buddhist monk's suicide by fire that shocked the Kennedy White House into a critical policy re-evaluation, died Monday night, Aug. 27, 2012 at a hospital in New Hampshire, not far from his home in Thetford, Vt. He was 81. (AP Photo/Malcolm Browne) (credit:AP)
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FILE - In this June 27, 1963 file photo. AP Saigon correspondent Malcolm Browne interviews Quang Lien, leading spokesman for the Xa Loi Buddhist pagoda in Saigon. Browne, acclaimed for his trenchant reporting of the Vietnam War and a photo of a Buddhist monk's suicide by fire that shocked the Kennedy White House into a critical policy re-evaluation, died Monday night, Aug. 27, 2012 at a hospital in New Hampshire, not far from his home in Thetford, Vt. He was 81. (AP Photo) (credit:AP)
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FILE - In this June 8, 1972 file photo taken by Associated Press photographer Huynh Cong "Nick" Ut, a Vietnamese man and woman carry severely burned children down Route 1 after a misdirected napalm attack by South Vietnamese pilots in the village of Trang Bang, South Vietnam. The aerial attack was intended for enemy forces on the outskirts of the village. It only took a second for Ut to snap the iconic black-and-white image of Phan Thi Kim Phuc after a napalm attack in 1972, but it communicated the horrors of the Vietnam War in a way words could never describe, helping to end one of America's darkest eras. (AP Photo/Nick Ut, File) (credit:AP)
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FILE - In this June 8, 1972 file photo taken by Associated Press photographer Huynh Cong "Nick" Ut, a Skyraider, a propeller driven plane of the Vietnamese Airforce (VNAF) 518th Squadron, drops one bomb with incendiary napalm and white phosphorus jelly over Trang Bang village. It only took a second for Ut to snap the iconic black-and-white image of 9-year-old Phan Thi Kim Phuc, one of the victims of the napalm attack in 1972, but it communicated the horrors of the Vietnam War in a way words could never describe, helping to end one of America's darkest eras. (AP Photo/Nick Ut, File) (credit:AP)
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FILE - This June 8, 1972 file photo taken by Associated Press photographer Huynh Cong "Nick" Ut, shows bombs with a mixture of napalm and white phosphorus jelly dropped by Vietnamese Air Force Skyraider bombers explode across Route 1, amidst homes and in front of the Cao Dai temple on the outskirts of Trang Bang, Vietnam. It only took a second for Ut to snap the iconic black-and-white image of Phan Thi Kim Phuc after a napalm attack in 1972, but it communicated the horrors of the Vietnam War in a way words could never describe, helping to end one of America's darkest eras. (AP Photo/Nick Ut) (credit:AP)
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FILE-This Sept. 20, 1970, file photo taken by Associated Press photographer, Huynh Cong "Nick" Ut, shows a Cambodian soldier on an operation in Vietnam. It only took a second for Ut to snap the iconic black-and-white image of Phan Thi Kim Phuc after a napalm attack in 1972, but it communicated the horrors of the Vietnam War in a way words could never describe, helping to end one of America's darkest eras. (AP Photo/Nick Ut) (credit:AP)
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FILE- In this early 1968 file photo taken by Associated Press photographer, Huynh Cong "Nick" Ut, the body of a man lies beside a road in the Saigon area of Vietnam during the Tet Offensive. It only took a second for Ut to snap the iconic black-and-white image of Phan Thi Kim Phuc after a napalm attack in 1972, but it communicated the horrors of the Vietnam War in a way words could never describe, helping to end one of America's darkest eras. (AP Photo/Nick Ut, File) (credit:AP)
photojournalist(16 of42)
FILE - In this Aug. 17, 1989 file photo, Phan Thi Kim Phuc embraces Associated Press staff photographer Nick Ut during a reunion in Havana, Cuba. It only took a second for Ut to snap the iconic black-and-white image of Phan Thi Kim Phuc after a napalm attack in 1972, but it communicated the horrors of the Vietnam War in a way words could never describe, helping to end one of America's darkest eras. (AP Photo/Jim Caccavo, File) (credit:AP)
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FILE -In this August 20, 1970, file photo taken by Associated Press photographer Huynh Cong "Nick" Ut, a line of South Vietnamese marines moves across a shallow branch of the Mekong River during an operation near Neak Luong, Cambodia. It only took a second for Ut to snap the iconic black-and-white image of Phan Thi Kim Phuc after a napalm attack in 1972, but it communicated the horrors of the Vietnam War in a way words could never describe, helping to end one of America's darkest eras. (AP Photo/Nick Ut, File) (credit:AP)
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FILE- In this May 8, 1970, file photo taken by Associated Press photographer Huynh Cong "Nick" Ut, a South Vietnamese tank crew abandons tank after it was hit by B40 rockets and automatic weapons two miles north of Svay Rieng in eastern Cambodia. It only took a second for Ut to snap the iconic black-and-white image of Phan Thi Kim Phuc after a napalm attack in 1972, but it communicated the horrors of the Vietnam War in a way words could never describe, helping to end one of America's darkest eras. (AP Photo/Nick Ut, File) (credit:AP)
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FILE- In this early 1968 file photo, taken by Associated Press photographer Huynh Cong "Nick" Ut, journalists photograph a body in the Saigon area in early 1968, during the Tet Offensive. It only took a second for Ut to snap the iconic black-and-white image of Phan Thi Kim Phuc after a napalm attack in 1972, but it communicated the horrors of the Vietnam War in a way words could never describe, helping to end one of America's darkest eras. (AP Photo/Nick Ut, File) (credit:AP)
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FILE- In this April 6, 1969, file photo, taken by Associated Press Photographer Huynh Cong "Nick" Ut, youthful civil defense militiamen leap into the flooded Nipa Palm grove near Saigon, Vietnam. It only took a second for Ut to snap the iconic black-and-white image of Phan Thi Kim Phuc after a napalm attack in 1972, but it communicated the horrors of the Vietnam War in a way words could never describe, helping to end one of America's darkest eras. (AP Photo/Nick Ut, File) (credit:AP)
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FILE- In this June 1970 file photo, taken by Associated Press photographer Huynh Cong "Nick" Ut, south Vietnamese Marines rush to the point where descending U.S. Army helicopter will pick them up after a sweep east of the Cambodian town of Prey-Veng during the Vietnam War. It only took a second for Associated Press Photographer Huynh Cong "Nick" Ut to snap the iconic black-and-white image of Phan Thi Kim Phuc after a napalm attack in 1972, but it communicated the horrors of the Vietnam War in a way words could never describe, helping to end one of America's darkest eras. (AP Photo/Nick Ut, File) (credit:AP)
Barack Obamam, Leon Panetta, Eric Shinseki(22 of42)
Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki, left, and Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta talk as they sit on stage with Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall behind them before President Barack Obama speaks during a Memorial Day ceremony at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War on, Monday, May 28, 2012, in Washington. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) (credit:AP)
Vienam Veterans Memorial(23 of42)
A visitor to the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial touches the name of a fallen soldier etched on the wall of the memorial in Washington, Friday, May 25, 2012. On Monday, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall will begin the national commemoration of the Vietnam Wars 50th anniversary. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh) (credit:AP)
Vienam Veterans Memorial(24 of42)
People take rubbings of names of fallen etched on the wall of the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial in Washington, Friday, May 25, 2012. On Monday, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall will begin the national commemoration of the Vietnam War's 50th anniversary. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh) (credit:AP)
Red Flegal(25 of42)
Volunteer Red Flegal of New London, Pa., helps a visitor with a rubbing of a name} on the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial in Washington, Friday, May 25, 2012. On Monday, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall will begin the national commemoration of the Vietnam Wars 50th anniversary. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh) (credit:AP)
Vienam Veterans Memorial(26 of42)
People take a rubbing of a name as they visit the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial in Washington, Friday, May 25, 2012. On Monday, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall will begin the national commemoration of the Vietnam Wars 50th anniversary. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh) (credit:AP)
Verlin Maglitz(27 of42)
Vietnam veteran Verlin Maglitz of Jacksonville, Ill., pauses as he takes a rubbing of those he fought with in Vietnam during his visit to the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial in Washington, Friday, May 25, 2012. Maglitz was in the Army and served in Vietnam as part of the 101st Airborne Division and plans to take rubbings of approximately 45 of his friends. On Monday, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall will begin the national commemoration of the Vietnam Wars 50th anniversary. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh) (credit:AP)
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FILE - In this Jan. 16, 1966 file photo taken by Associated Press photographer Horst Faas, Lt. Col. George Eyster of Florida is placed on a stretcher after being shot by a Viet Cong sniper at Trung Lap, South Vietnam. Faas, a prize-winning combat photographer who carved out new standards for covering war with a camera and became one of the world's legendary photojournalists in nearly half a century with The Associated Press, died Thursday May 10, 2012. He was 79. (AP Photo/Horst Faas, File) (credit:AP)
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FILE - In this Jan. 1, 1966 file photo taken by Associated Press photographer Horst Faas, women and children crouch in a muddy canal as they take cover from intense Viet Cong fire at Bao Trai, about 20 miles west of Saigon, Vietnam. Faas, a prize-winning combat photographer who carved out new standards for covering war with a camera and became one of the world's legendary photojournalists in nearly half a century with The Associated Press, died Thursday May 10, 2012. He was 79. (AP Photo/Horst Faas) (credit:AP)
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FILE - In this July 15, 1966 file photo taken by Associated Press photographer Horst Faas, U.S. Marines scatter as a CH-46 helicopter burns, background, after it was shot down near the demilitarized zone (DMZ) between North and South Vietnam. Faas, a prize-winning combat photographer who carved out new standards for covering war with a camera and became one of the world's legendary photojournalists in nearly half a century with The Associated Press, died Thursday May 10, 2012. He was 79. (AP Photo/Horst Faas) (credit:AP)
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FILE - In this Jan. 1, 1966 file photo, two South Vietnamese children gaze at an American paratrooper holding an M79 grenade launcher as they cling to their mothers who huddle against a canal bank for protection from Viet Cong sniper fire in the Bao Trai area, 20 miles west of Saigon, Vietnam. Faas, a prize-winning combat photographer who carved out new standards for covering war with a camera and became one of the world's legendary photojournalists in nearly half a century with The Associated Press, died Thursday May 10, 2012. He was 79. (AP Photo/Horst Faas) (credit:AP)
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FILE - In this March 1965 file photo shot by Associated Press photographer Horst Faas, hovering U.S. Army helicopters pour machine gun fire into the tree line to cover the advance of South Vietnamese ground troops in an attack on a Viet Cong camp 18 miles north of Tay Ninh, Vietnam, northwest of Saigon near the Cambodian border. Faas, a prize-winning combat photographer who carved out new standards for covering war with a camera and became one of the world's legendary photojournalists in nearly half a century with The Associated Press, died Thursday May 10, 2012. He was 79. (AP Photo/Horst Faas, File) (credit:AP)
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FILE - In this March 30, 1965 file photo taken by Associated Press photographer Horst Faas, injured Vietnamese receive aid as they lie on the street after a bomb explosion outside the U.S. Embassy in Saigon, Vietnam. Faas, a prize-winning combat photographer who carved out new standards for covering war with a camera and became one of the world's legendary photojournalists in nearly half a century with The Associated Press, died Thursday May 10, 2012. He was 79. (AP Photo/Horst Faas, File) (credit:AP)
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FILE - In this March 1973 file photo taken by Associated Press photographer Horst Faas, American prisoners of war look through barred wooden doors at the last detention camp at Ly Nam De Street in Hanoi, North Vietnam. Faas, a prize-winning combat photographer who carved out new standards for covering war with a camera and became one of the world's legendary photojournalists in nearly half a century with The Associated Press, died Thursday May 10, 2012. He was 79. (AP Photo/Horst Faas, File) (credit:AP)
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FILE - In this July 15, 1966 file photo taken by Associated Press photographer Horst Faas, U.S. Marines scatter as a CH-46 helicopter burns, background, after it was shot down near the demilitarized zone (DMZ) between North and South Vietnam. Faas, a prize-winning combat photographer who carved out new standards for covering war with a camera and became one of the world's legendary photojournalists in nearly half a century with The Associated Press, died Thursday May 10, 2012. He was 79. (AP Photo/Horst Faas) (credit:AP)
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FILE - In this Aug. 1962 file photo shot by Associated Press photographer Horst Faas, South Vietnamese government troops from the 2nd Battalion of the 36th Infantry sleep in a U.S. Navy troop carrier on their way back to the Provincial capital of Ca Mau, Vietnam. Faas, a prize-winning combat photographer who carved out new standards for covering war with a camera and became one of the world's legendary photojournalists in nearly half a century with The Associated Press, died Thursday May 10, 2012. He was 79. (AP Photo/Horst Faas, File) (credit:AP)
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FILE - In this Jan. 9, 1964 file photo one of several shot by Associated Press photographer Horst Faas, earning him the first of two Pulitzer Prizes, a South Vietnamese soldier uses the end of a dagger to beat a farmer for allegedly supplying government troops with inaccurate information about the movement of Viet Cong guerrillas in a village west of Saigon, Vietnam. Faas, a prize-winning combat photographer who carved out new standards for covering war with a camera and became one of the world's legendary photojournalists in nearly half a century with The Associated Press, has died May 10, 2012. He was 79. (AP Photo/Horst Faas, File) (credit:AP)
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FILE - In this June 1965 file photo shot by Associated Press photographer Horst Faas, South Vietnamese civilians, among the few survivors of two days of heavy fighting, huddle together in the aftermath of an attack by government troops to retake the post at Dong Xoai, Vietnam. Faas, a prize-winning combat photographer who carved out new standards for covering war with a camera and became one of the world's legendary photojournalists in nearly half a century with The Associated Press, died Thursday May 10, 2012. He was 79. (AP Photo/Horst Faas) (credit:AP)
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File - In this December 1965 file photo shot by Associated Press photographer Horst Faas, a U.S. 1st Division soldier guards Route 7 as Vietnamese women and school children return home to the village of Xuan Dien from Ben Cat, Vietnam. Faas, a prize-winning combat photographer who carved out new standards for covering war with a camera and became one of the world's legendary photojournalists in nearly half a century with The Associated Press, died Thursday May 10, 2012. He was 79. (AP Photo/Horst Faas) (credit:AP)
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FILE - In this Jan. 1, 1966 file photo taken by Associated Press photographer Horst Faas, women and children crouch in a muddy canal as they take cover from intense Viet Cong fire at Bao Trai, about 20 miles west of Saigon, Vietnam. Faas, a prize-winning combat photographer who carved out new standards for covering war with a camera and became one of the world's legendary photojournalists in nearly half a century with The Associated Press, Thursday May 10, 2012. He was 79. (AP Photo/Horst Faas) (credit:AP)
April 2, 1967 flle photo(41 of42)
FILE - In this April 2, 1967 file photo shot by Associated Press photographer Horst Faas, wounded U.S. soldiers are treated on a battle field in Vietnam. Faas, a prize-winning combat photographer who carved out new standards for covering war with a camera and became one of the world's legendary photojournalists in nearly half a century with The Associated Press, Thursday May 10, 2012. He was 79. (AP Photo/Horst Faas) (credit:AP)
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In a May 4, 1970 file photo, a group of youths cluster around a wounded person as Ohio National Guardsmen, wearing gas masks, hold their weapons in the background, on Kent State University campus in Kent, Ohio. Members of the Guards killed four students and injured nine during a campus protest against the Vietnam War. The U.S. Justice Department, citing "insurmountable legal and evidentiary barriers," won't reopen its investigation into the deadly 1970 shootings by Ohio National Guardsmen during a Vietnam War protest at Kent State University. Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perez discussed the obstacles in a letter to Alan Canfora, a wounded student who requested that the investigation be reopened. The Justice Department said Tuesday, April 24, 2012 it would not comment beyond the letter. (AP Photo/Douglas Moore, File) (credit:AP)