Never Look Away

Watched this at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival.

"Never Look Away" is an interesting documentary about photojournalist Margaret Moth and presented with insightful discussions, good presentation and a strong sense of direction and tone. Documentaries about photography and war are not new as the documentary structure isn't something grand nor amazing but the core of it's emotional message, the direction and the style of the documentary still kept the investment to be strong and many of the conversations and concepts well-explored.

Moth is an interesting individual and the documentary does a good job on telling about who she was, her impact on her work and what made her special. While there are some cheesy use of music and some of the editing choices are a little confusing, I found myself overall enjoying it.

This may be the best biographical film I have seen in years. This is the story of Margaret Moth, a bohemian woman who was a cameraman for CNN, obsessed with filming the truth.

The reason this is so incredible that all the warzones she filmed in are either still hot or moved down the road, but the realities are the same - dead innocents and no resolutions. She risked her life, and paid the price, for presenting to the world the ugliness of war we in America are all shielded from.

She was part Anais Ninn, part Grace Slick, part Ernie Pyle and one hundred percent original. A child from hard circumstances and a lady tougher than coffin nails. After seeing this, I can't imagine anyone not wanting to have met this incredible woman.

I usually am not a fan of documentaries but this kept me on the edge of my seat , wanting to know more . We gasped , we awwwed , we sighed and we cried . Lucy did a great job capturing the many perspectives of how moth lived her life .

The graphics were great , the clips were amazing . I love how Lucy dug deep revealing things we didn't know about moth creating our own perspective of her . She was both a protagonist and an antagonist in this documentary. There is a lot of graphics that small children shouldn't watch but if you want something new to watch , I promise you won't be bored !

Highly recommended.

Margaret Moth was a unique, trail blazing, no BS woman who was ahead of time & who clearly thrived on adrenaline.

This documentary shows just how born for the job she excelled at she was - no compromise, no shying away, no backing down, her role as a war camera person was an integral part of illustrating to the world what was happening in these regions of war & conflict.

The interviews with her various colleagues & partners was a fascinating insight into what attracted her & excited her in life & it certainly wasn't the humdrum facets that so many eventually fall into.

Well worth watching to find out about this one of kind woman who was committed to her job, faced down events that most would run from & who was taken from this world far too soon.

This movie is so incredibly well done, powerful, and moving. Lawless has knocked it out of the park in her directorial debut. Wow. I am shocked I never knew Moth's story but I am in awe of her - her resilience and bravery. This is a must see film and I can't recommend it enough.

The story itself is really powerful, but the way Lawless tells it opens up a lot of new facets and insight into who Moth was and why her personal life was so compelling in addition to her professional career.

Lawless also lets the people in Moth's life tell the story and the messy conflicting tales really show how people are often seen to differently by others in their lives and leaves it up to the viewer to decide who Moth was.

Great great film!