“CNN camerawoman Margaret Moth fearlessly captures footage of war zones. After receiving catastrophic injuries in the crosshairs of battle, she returns to work with more courage than ever.” 

This is easily one of the most intense documentaries I have ever watched. It tells a pretty wild story about Margaret Moth from her early drug-fuelled and sexual excesses to her work as a war photographer in Iraq and Sarajevo and other places. It doesn’t shy away from the horrors of the conflicts during which she was a photographer. 

Specifically in one piece of footage, they show the body of a seven-year-old child, and the pool of blood from his head, that had been killed. There’s also the news footage talking about the child. In another piece, you see bloodied corpses under tarps. This isn’t being mentioned to put you off, simply to warn you of the often graphic nature of this film. It even goes into deep details about brutal, and almost fatal, injuries Margaret herself receives from a sniper. 

The people involved make her come alive with their stories. They don’t hold back or try to rose tint who she was and what she went through. This really helps to hammer home the extreme realism of what we are watching. Lucy Lawless, as director, has curated a really telling documentary about a flawed woman who found a passion for showing the truth of war. Yet she used this passion as an alternative to the addictions she had previously had. 

I’m not going to say too much more, not for spoilers because it’s a documentary and the information is out there to find out, but this feels like a film you need to watch for yourself. The outcome, what happens to Margaret, needs to be understood as part of watching the whole thing unfold. 

Overall, this is one of the hardest-to-watch documentaries I’ve seen in many a year. It’s graphic in its depictions of war and the way people talk about Moth and her life. It doesn’t pretend to be anything other than what it is, and for that reason alone this is a superb documentary. It’s getting a 3.5/5, and a recommendation to check it out, but be ready for the intensity. 

Kaleidoscope Entertainment presents Never Look Away out now on Digital platforms

An Intense Documentary

Movie title: Never Look Away (2024)

Movie description: CNN camerawoman Margaret Moth fearlessly captures footage of war zones. A Sundance premiere featuring Christiane Amanpour, directed by Lucy Lawless.

Date published: January 14, 2025

Country: UK

Duration: 1h 25

Director(s): Lucy Lawless

Actor(s): Christiane Amanpour, Margaret Moth, Stefano Kotsonis

Genre: Documentary, Drama

3.5

Summary

One of the hardest-to-watch documentaries I’ve seen in many a year. It’s graphic in its depictions of war and the way people talk about Moth and her life.

Simon Henderson

Simon Henderson began his journey with his podcast, Inspire Indie Radio, set up to promote independent, and unsigned, artists and help get their music out to other audiences. This is a big passion of his and something he is very proud to do.

One of his other big passions is movies and he followed up the podcast with movie reviews “from the mind of an average guy” on Tumblr. After a while he wanted to bring everything together under one name and so he chose Average Guy Entertainments because, as he is oft quoted as saying, “I’m just an Average Guy.”