Review: Never Look Away is a documentary with an unexpected disability lens

Lucy Lawless’ directorial debut, Never Look Away, is a documentary with an unexpected disability lens.

The film focuses on Margaret Moth, a New Zealander who was a notable CNN camera operator. Margaret Moth was born Margaret Wilson in 1951, but changed her name to Margaret Gipsy Moth, after the first plane she jumped from when skydiving. She was a war zone reporter in the 1990s – if you watched TV news of frontline reports from war zones in the 1990s, it’s highly likely that you have seen Moth’s work.

She led an outrageous, colourful and chequered life, depicting war zones and generally having a fearless attitude. Although she passed away in 2010, she is remembered in the film by ex-lovers, colleagues and family members – all of whom piece together the personality of an uncompromising woman, full of vigour and a penchant for sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll. 

Moth is particularly remembered for being the target of a sniper shot when covering the Yugoslavia conflict in Sarajevo, Bosnia. She was shot in the jaw, and required extensive facial reconstruction surgery to survive. However, she was back working in conflict zones by 1994.

Lawless’ documentary draws on various footage – archival, Moth’s own from CNN and home video to weave the story of Moth onto the big screen. The most notable scenes, I found, were the Weta workshop diorama scenes. These scenes, particularly the one depicting Moth and her colleagues in Sarajevo, help the audience to imagine the chaos of conflict. 

I knew of Moth’s existence prior to attending the film at the New Zealand International Film Festival, but I was not expecting to come face-to-face with someone who lived part of their life with a face that is not commonly seen in society – a face a bit like mine. While my facial palsy has existed since birth, and not brought on by a traumatic event mid-life like Moth, I resonated with her coming to terms with being perceived differently owing to her looks, and her slurred speech, as a consequence of a sniper bullet.

I wanted to know more about her experiences navigating this through conflict zones; how she maintained fearlessness in the face of death. How she maintained her strong conviction to ensure that people would know what atrocities were happening around the world. I wanted to know how she would perceive current conflicts around the world, being filmed in real time and shared through social media.

The scenes describing the aftermath of Moth’s attack were particularly abrupt for me. As Moth recovers in hospital, she writes “Do I look like a monster?”. I felt equally sad and angry for Moth and what she endured – and also shock too. Shock from the cruelty of the attack, and also shock at seeing someone with a different face on screen. Moth referred to herself as monstrous a couple of times in footage throughout the film – an adjective that almost felt like a reclamation; of Moth saying ‘this is me, don’t look away’. It was not a hard leap to go from the statement ‘never look away’ to ‘nothing about us, without us’.

Margaret’s story is one of adaption and getting on with it. Her personality was unflinching, shrouded in mystery even through the footage. Her tenacity and uncompromising personality was endearing. I left the film wanting to know more about Margaret Moth, while also understanding that she was an enigma with a famously private life. 

I couldn’t look away. 

Never Look Away is now screening in selected cinemas. You can check out showtimes here.

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