Never Look Away knows some people talk, but never Margaret Moth. She walked the walk and hardly spoke, allowing her camera tell the story. A punk-rock, gnarly, and totally rad photojournalist who did not so much bend the rules but broke them at her will and rewrote them. Moth brought a do-it-yourself ethos to the brand-new 24-hour news media that was completely raw, painfully honest, and completely unfiltered. Simply put, Margaret Moth was nothing but pure rock and roll.
A woman who brought this type of anti-establishment to first-timers of 365-day news coverage, CNN. While others took cover, she stood tall. She was capturing images of civil wars and genocides in Sarajevo, Georgia, and Rwanda. Then, there were the riots after Ghandi’s assassination. For God’s sake, this woman changed her last name for her love of jumping out of Tiger Moth planes, a plane with limited safety restrictions, with a parachute to kill time. This fierce New Zealander was attracted to danger, never quivering.
Yes, like a moth to a flame.
This is her first feature, directed by actress Lucy Lawless, and it’s a good one. Lawless captures the soul of Margaret Moth, the sobering reality, and her remarkable resilience. Moth worked for many reporters, but no one is bigger than Christiane Amanpour regarding wartime correspondents. The British-Iranian journalist was the face of wartime news coverage, but Moth was behind the camera. The pictures of the two look remarkably alike, but Moth’s punk-rock looks made her look like Amanpour’s alter ego. Perhaps, an extension of herself because her self-preservation wouldn’t allow such danger.
Moth brought images to the world that many wouldn’t believe. Saddam Hussein’s Mukhabarat forcibly withheld her. Recording visuals of militiamen firing upon a crowd of protestors in the Soviet Republic of Georgia. Even a sniper’s bullet obliterating a journalist’s shoulder-held camera in Sarajevo. And with the latter came Moth’s tragic fork in the road, which she almost foretold by telling a colleague, “We came into their war. Fair’s fair.“
Moth, who was in a press van with other reporters, was struck by a bullet in Sarajevo’s infamous Sniper’s Alley. The injury shattered her jaw and all of her teeth from the sonic wave of the bullet and left her scared, not just physically but mentally. The once proud, fearless Kiwi journalist was left broken. As described by her then-boyfriend, a Frenchman who left her during her most trying time, she cried so much that her tears were undoing the stitches that kept her jaw connected to her face.
This is where Lawless’s film makes strong connections. It explains why Margaret Moth was the dare-devil journalist of her day and how she persevered. It’s striking watching Moth’s family not only talk about the strict hand their father wielded but the abuse from the mother as well. Moth was a platinum-blonde-haired child. However, she grew up to be a woman with spikey, jet-black hair covered in acid-garage-punk style from head to toe.
Moth actively self-medicates with drugs and alcohol, even though no one explicitly states it as a fact. Getting up close and personal with wartime atrocities gave her a rush and a euphoric feeling that no drug could take her. If Dr. Strangelove could survive the bomb, how could Margaret Moth survive the bullet? Yes, the medical team is behind her. But the explanation of not giving in to the darkness afterward is fascinating.
It’s as if the euphoric rush of covering global conflicts with a team was her support system. Moth turned a world of instability into structured stability. Doing what she loves, establishing a routine of controlled chaos in a way worth living.
This is a strong documentary debut for Lawless, who captures Margaret Moth and her life’s many phases and facets. Employing creative and straightforward visual elements and providing explanations enhances distinct areas of Moth’s wartime reporting that defy capture. Never Look Away is as fearless as the movie’s subject.
Never Look Away had its World Premiere in the World Cinema Documentary Competition section of the 2024 Sundance Film Festival.
Director: Lucy Lawless
Rated: NR
Runtime: 85m
Like a moth to a flame, Never Look Away is as fearless as it's subject.
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GVN Rating
I am a film and television critic and a proud member of the Las Vegas Film Critic Society, Critics Choice Association, and a 🍅 Rotten Tomatoes/Tomato meter approved. However, I still put on my pants one leg at a time, and that’s when I often stumble over. When I’m not writing about movies, I patiently wait for the next Pearl Jam album and pass the time by scratching my wife’s back on Sunday afternoons while she watches endless reruns of California Dreams. I was proclaimed the smartest reviewer alive by actor Jason Isaacs, but I chose to ignore his obvious sarcasm. You can also find my work on InSession Film, Ready Steady Cut, Hidden Remote, Music City Drive-In, Nerd Alert, and Film Focus Online.
