Director: Kriv Stenders
Actors: Richard Roxburgh, Rahel Romahn, Julian Maroun, Yael Stone
Genre: Drama
Rating: M
‘The Correspondent’ is from the director of ‘Red Dog’ and ‘Danger Close’, and is based on the true story of Peter Greste (Roxburgh), the Australian journalist working for Al Jeezera in Cairo in 2013, during the Arab Spring uprising, when he & colleagues Fahmy (Maroun) and Mohamed (Romahn) get arrested. The film starts well, setting up some of the protests and why Greste is there, but not really delving much into the wider politics of what’s happening in Egypt.
It’s all filmed in Australia, as we don’t see much of Egypt,
due to mostly being inside prison blocks. The film only follows Greste, often consciously
claustrophobically so, as he tries to comprehend what’s happening to him and
how to navigate his way out, without compromising his journalistic integrity.
Having Fahmy and Mohamed in the same predicament, albeit not foreign nationals,
helps him share his burden at times, but also adds complications.
Part courtroom drama, part psychological horror, it’s a slow-burn
at 2 hours, with a mostly-happy ending – even if it’s mostly inexplicable as with
the initial arrests – that’s sobered by the on-screen statistics that close the
film. All the actors are good, with Roxburgh carrying the weight of the situation
on his face and shoulders, and Kate (Stone) fleshing out some of his past guilt
in flashbacks of his time with her in Mogadishu.
Overall: By no means fun, but well-made true story
Gav’s Rating: 3.5 stars
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