THE CORRESPONDENT Reviewed by GREG KING
Director: Kriv Stenders
Stars: Richard Roxburgh, Julian Maroun, Rahel Ramahn, Yael Stone, Mojean Aria, Fayssal Bazzi, Nic Cassim, Josh McConville.
This powerful but grim drama from Australian director Kriv Stenders (Red Dog, etc) tells the true story of journalist Peter Greste who was jailed in Cairo in bogus charges of being involved with terrorism. His story made international headlines in 2014. The Correspondent has been adapted from Greste’s own 2017 memoir The First Casualty by screenwriter Peter Duncan (Children Of The Revolution, etc).
Late in 2013 Greste (played here by Richard Roxburgh, from tv series Rake, etc) was sent to Cairo to cover for a colleague on leave. He was there to report on the unrest and protests on the streets of Cairo following the military coup that overthrew the government of President Mohamed Morsi. He and his colleagues Canadian journalist Mohamad Fahmy (Julian Maroun, from tv series Romper Stomper, etc) and local cameraman Baher Mohamed (Rahel Romahn, from Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, etc) were reporting for the Al Jazeera network, and Greste was only supposed to be in Cairo for a couple of weeks.
Shortly after filing a report on the riots, Greste and his two colleagues were arrested by the military police. They were charged with reporting without a license, being involved with a terrorist group, and spreading false propaganda. Greste was sentenced to seven years imprisonment. Thus began a 14-month nightmare for Greste who was subject to some harsh treatment and endured sham trials. He was a pawn in a political game that he didn’t understand.
The Correspondent delves into the corrupt and unjust legal system that persecuted and detained Greste on trumped up charges. The film also explores how he tried to keep himself fit and remain sane while awaiting assistance from the Australian government. Meanwhile his family worked hard to try and secure Greste’s release.
Greste’s personal drama is interspersed with flashback sequences to an earlier assignment in Mogadishu in 2005 in which a fellow journalist – British reporter Kate Peyton (Yael Stone) – was shot and killed during an ambush. The incident haunted Greste during his long incarceration.
Roxburgh delivers one of his best and most empathetic performances here and his solid presence grounds the film. His largely internal performance captures Greste’s emotional state, his anguish and sense of despair and helplessness. Roxburgh conveys his sense of weariness but also his pragmatic attitude towards the tedium and routine of prison life. He brings a grim humour to the material.
Stenders and his production team have recreated the harsh and squalid conditions of the notorious Torah prison. The sham courtroom proceedings seem surreal, like something out of Kafka, and at one stage his lawyer is arrested. These details add tension to the material. Stenders has also incorporated some archival footage of the Arab Spring uprising, which lends authenticity to this recreation of the events. Cinematographer Geoffrey Hall (Red Dog, etc) has done a great job with the visuals, working in close up to focus on Roxburgh’s face as he conveys Greste’s emotional turmoil. He also captures the claustrophobic aesthetic of the prison (which were all shot in a couple of former prisons somewhere in Sydney), while imbuing the flashback sequences with a washed out brownish colour palette that is evocative of the oppressive heat.
A sober postscript informs us that since 2005 some 1700 journalists have been killed while doing their jobs. And approximately another 700 have been imprisoned. Stenders’ film is a timely reminder of the constant threats to freedom of the press and journalistic integrity, themes that seem even more relevant and urgent today.
★★★
