NZIFF: Never Look Away

Lucy Lawless makes her directorial debut with a raucous documentary exploring the life of another warrior princess – fierce and fearless Kiwi war photojournalist Margaret Moth.

Margaret Moth worked as a CNN video journalist during the 1990s, known in the industry for her willingness – or eagerness, even – to put her own safety on the line in order to get amongst terrifying military action. Never Look Away features friends, lovers, and colleagues sharing their admiration, wonder, and fear over Moth’s unyielding determination in many of the world’s most dangerous warzones.

Fellow war reporters, including Christiane Amanpour, make clear the huge impact Moth had as a photojournalist, a woman in a male-dominated field, shining a light on humanity’s darkest moments – some of which the documentary brings to life as stylish digital dioramas built by Wētā Workshop. Despite this, she remains a largely unsung hero in her home country, a situation this energetic film seeks to remedy.

But the documentary doesn’t simply canonise the prickly photographer, paying just as much attention to Moth’s complicated character as her achievements. Her personal life contained no less adrenaline than the warzone workdays; a flurry of LSD, punk clubs, open relationships, and risky behaviour.

As Moth boldly thrust the grimy realities of war onto the TV screen, so does Lucy Lawless’s documentary present the details of her life and legacy in all their tangled complexity.
— Adrian Hatwell

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