227. Ithaka; movie review

 

ITHAKA

Cert 12A

106 mins

BBFC advice: Contains moderate violence, references to suicide & sexual assault, strong language

I felt guilty while watching this documentary about the campaign to free Julian Assange.

As a former journalist, I should have understood that his treatment by the establishment is an assault on the freedom of the press and the democracy we cherish.

Perhaps my industry's view of Assange and his work, unveiling secret documents as head of Wikileaks, may have been clouded by his awkward personality.

But, thanks to Ben Lawrence's film, I understand more that his character traits are down to his Asperger's Syndrome and being on the autism spectrum.

Ithaka follows the campaign of Assange's father, John Shipton, who was out of his life from his early childhood until his 20s.

Shipton is nearly as complex as his son - well in his 70s with a five-year-old daughter and probably on the spectrum himself.

His key ally in the struggle is Assange's girlfriend, Stella Moris, the mother of his two young children and part of his legal team.

She met him while he was holed up in the Ecuadorian Embassy as efforts continued to extradite him to Sweden and then to the United States.

Since then, Assange has been arrested and incarcerated in Belmarsh prison, one of the highest security jails in Britain

Ithaka paints a picture of him being a broken man to the point of being at real risk of suicide.

It includes occasional recorded telephone conversations with him but mainly the reactions of his father and fiancee to his plight as they build up to his extradition court case and then live through it.

They receive support from many quarters but none from the media whose rights Assange has been trying to preserve.

Ithaka gives us greater insight into a story which regularly hits the headlines without us knowing what it really means - namely, the fight for our freedom.

Reasons to watch: A case which determines the future of journalism

Reasons to avoid: Wanders off on tangents

Laughs: None

Jumps: None

Vomit: None

Nudity: None

Overall rating: 7.5/10

Did you know? Julian Assange guest-starred as himself on the 500th episode of "The Simpsons" in 2012. He recorded his lines over the phone from the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, where he was granted asylum for nearly seven years.

The final word. Ben Lawrence: "The responsibility of telling it, the size of the story, the fact that it was very important to me, I knew that was obviously important to others, but also to have that sort of access to John and Stella, and that world, weighed heavily on me in trying to tell a film that I felt that was accessible, emotional, but also grappled with the larger global issues that are obviously at play in Julian’s story. " The Curb

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