NEVER LOOK AWAY Review: A Dangerously Extraordinary Life
Journalism is in crisis; in part due to people now getting their news from social media, in part due to the web forcing many newspapers and television outlets to publish their work for free; in part due to people not having much disposible income; and as we are seeing in real time, a lot because billionaires are buying newspapers and not letting journalists do their job.
But we need information, both in words and in images. Images of war, especially, have brought realities of the experience to the public's eye in way that cannot be propagandized or disputed by authorities who don't want you to believe what is witnessed. The work of journalists and photojournalists on the ground is irreplacable. Margaret Moth was at the forefront of contemporary photojournalism, one of the first camerawomen at a new 24-news station by the name of CNN, at the front lines in wars in thr former Yugoslavia, Rwanda, and Kuwait and Iraq. But her life story, and her drive to document the terrors of war, are a fascinating life story.
Never Look Away is as adrenaline-fueled as its subject, yet it uses that adrenaline to fuel as deep a study as possible, into a woman who often tried to remain a mystery. The directorial debut of Lucy Lawless (Xena: Warrior Princess, The Spine of Night), it's a fascinating look at a singular woman who changed the face of her profession, and paid a hefty price for her drive.
We're introduced to Moth, who was born and raised in New Zealand, when she's already nearly 30 and living in Texas. How she got there, we're never told, and it will be a while before we learn anything about her life growing up. Instead, Lawless has us meet Moth as she met most of the people in her life: as a free-spirited, ferocious, mystical, mysterious woman. Heavily into drugs, open to many lovers, and determined to document the world with her camera. With her Carole Pope look and attitude that clearly implied she would risk everything for a story, Lawless and her team follow Moth's trail to war.
Given that Moth, and those who surrounded her, built their lives around documenting, there is no end of material for Lawless and her team to draw from. Photographs, videos, all editing together with Moth's distinct energy. At times it's aggressive, frequently intense, always filled with history both public and personal - Moth's life seemed to blend the two in ways she didn't even realize. Her unflappable nature, determination and just complete lack of acceptance of any sexism meant she went into any place and talked with any person, and apparently found acceptance everywhere.
The war footage is not easy to watch - not that it should be. Especially given that we are seeing today, especially with the ongoing genocide in the middle east, it's not easy to be confronted with the volatility of the region from 30 years ago; and Moth filmed it head on. We hear from her friends how she would frequently put herself in the line of fire; when everyone else was hiding behind cars or concrete, waiting for the bullets to momentarily stop, Moth seemed to almost welcome the possiblity, standing up and making sure she got the shot.
But we really meet Moth through the people who knew and loved her - former lovers and boyfriends (such as one whom she started dated when he was 17 and she was 30, and another French journalist whom she wanted to leave his wife), colleagues such as renowned anchor Christiane Amanpour, and former CNN journalist Stefano Kotsonis. This is when you see the other side of Margaret: how the people around her loved her, even if they didn't always like her, and hated how fearless she was. Perhaps Lawless was cherry-picking, but it seems that Margaret indeed was, despite or perhaps because of her fearlessness, the kind of person people just wanted to be with, and she usually gave back as much as was given.
Combined with all this documentation, are some moments of recreation: the use of models and figures to show what happened on a terrible day in Moth's life, is in some ways almost more harrowing that actual footgae would have been - it's left to our imaginations. Moth herself is only heard from in a few archival interviews - this might be because not much exists, but more because this is as much about how Moth was seen by others, as how she saw herself.
The marriage of a filmmaker like Lawless, herself a trailblazer, with a subject such as Moth, whose life was lead fearlessly, recklessly, dangerously, and unapologetically, it's not hard to get swept up in the adrenaline. Moth's life was extraordinary, often defying imagination how she managed to accomplish so much, even with an untimely death. Never Look Away is a terrific debut, a fascinating biography of an extraordinary person, and an important historical document of war journalism.
Never Look Away opens in theaters in the USA on Friday, November 22nd.
