The women behind the news stories are having a moment on screen in 2024. Whether it’s Kate Winslet as famed photojournalist Lee Miller in the biopic Lee or Kirsten Dunst’s fictional war photographer in Civil War, women who have put their lives on the line to tell the truth of bitter battles and armed conflicts have been a cinematic focus this year. Now, another pioneering female camera operator is having her story told in a new documentary.
Never Look Away, the directorial debut by one-time Xena: Warrior Princess Lucy Lawless, chronicles the fascinating career of CNN combat camerawoman Margaret Moth. Constructed via archival footage of Moth and from her assignments in conflict hotbeds around the world, Lawless utilizes interviews with her colleagues, friends, family, and lovers to create a picture of the remarkable woman who remains something of a mystery, even to those who spent decades with her.
Lawless’s portrait of Moth is one of fierce resilience. Her former lovers and colleagues speak of a woman who wasn’t afraid of missiles and bombs, preferring to put herself in the way of danger so the world could witness where history was made. Long before every phone had a camera and the 24/7 news cycle wasn’t at your fingertips, the footage Moth sent back to her news bureau was nothing short of remarkable.
In a time where female camera operators were rare – and continue to be – Moth stood out in more ways than one. She dressed how she wanted and said what she wanted, not shying away from drugs or drug users. Embracing a life of hedonism that included her 17-year-old lover Jeff Russi when she was 30, it was an attitude that served her well on assignment and earned her admirers both professionally and romantically. But it wasn’t her personal story Moth was particularly interested in telling–she wanted to tell the story of what was happening around the world.
“Her only motto is ‘no regrets.’ She didn’t look back,” her acquaintances say, which becomes clear in Lawless’ telling of her story.
Truly someone who lived life to the fullest, Moth was a woman who volunteered to go into the eye of a storm to film hurricanes and stood up amid missile fire – literally – to get the shot. Lawless does a good job of telling this part of Moth’s story documenting wartime horrors. She uses first-hand tales and the footage Moth filmed to give viewers an idea of her life on assignment in Baghdad, Afghanistan, Sarajevo, and beyond. In addition to dramatic network footage of the combat zones, Lawless intersperses dioramas created by Wētā Workshop that further illustrate the physical realities of the conflict areas Moth knowingly put herself in.
But Never Look Away is more than just a look at the career achievements of Moth. It also paints a portrait of the woman herself. After spending the first half of the film on Moth’s career, the second half gets more personal – or as close to personal as Moth would allow.
Brash, aggressive, and unapologetic, Moth was a persona created by Margaret Wilson. Trading her blonde hair and blue-eyed looks for a Joan Jett dark shaggy ‘do and adopting an attitude to match it, Moth distanced herself from her New Zealand upbringing in every way. Refusing to discuss her past, personal traumas coloured Moth as a steely woman who could not care less what anyone thought about her. Nightmarish drawings of her childhood backed by her siblings’ stories of abuse and fear at the hands of their parents create a scene more terrifying than anything Moth saw through her camera lens. Here, Lawless excels at letting Moth’s siblings, her drawings, and own footage speak for itself.
Though Moth didn’t share this backstory with others, it certainly had an impact on how she viewed life in her quest to put herself in the most-dangerous situations she could find. After all, as a CNN colleague warned her, “There’s only so much Russian Roulette you can play.”
Moth’s relative good luck on assignment eventually ran out, leading to a life-altering injury in Sarajevo in 1992. Through her injury, Moth was now a part of the story of the conflict she was covering, something she no doubt would have hated. In the face of injury and disfigurement, all Moth yearned to do was return to her job. Six months later after multiple surgeries, she was back on the ground in Sarajevo. Her slurred speech and scarred face were only a brief pause for the adrenaline junkie fuelled by news.
Ultimately, the story Lawless tells about Moth is incomplete, not for lack of trying, but because some figures remain unknowable. Intrigue and mystery cloud a fulsome portrait of Moth, which is exactly what the camerawoman would have wanted.
