Disclaimer: While this is a spoiler-free review of The Correspondent, it is tied to real-life experiences and true events, which will be referenced in this review.

Peter Greste is a name likely unfamiliar to many, but very familiar to journalists and people who were following world news a decade ago.

I had the honour of gaining insight from him last week in a Question and Answer session after a preview screening of Kriv Stenders’ film, The Correspondent, based on his experience in Egypt’s prison system.

However, before we get to that, I should discuss the movie. I would say this, if I had to describe it in one sentence: There is a LOT to unpack.

This film does not take its time getting to the key incident. Instead it puts you through a rollercoaster of emotions and will have you locked up in a state of stress from the very moment it starts. This film will leave you begging for answers throughout the entire runtime, but not in a bad way.

The movie’s overall lack of answers, through Roxburgh’s portrayal of Greste, will have you feeling like you are in his shoes in very little time, which is an admirable trait of this movie.

Another trait this movie possesses is the perception of time … that is, the lack thereof. This would understandably be considered a bad thing in most movies, since it can throw off viewers’ immersion. However, I am of the opinion this was done on purpose. The script was based on Greste’s experience and the film captures the way he dealt with being incarcerated for more than a year.

It can be easy for a movie like this to fall under the tenets of jingoism, in which patriotism is portrayed as a good thing in contrast with violent foreign policies, making the film feel like propaganda. Stenders almost certainly saw the risk of this during the film’s creative process, and he must have made a special effort to make sure Greste’s experience was not presented as an act of heroism. Instead, he is more of a figurehead, used by other people to further different goals and agendas, while he finds himself caught in a war of attrition, making little progress in his ordeal.

The film is also careful not to make the ending an exaggerated, patriotic spectacle. In fact, the film ends like a packet of Warheads in your mouth, with a painfully sour taste that eventually becomes more tolerable the longer you cope.

The Correspondent is stronger as a film if you already know who Greste is. Egypt was not his first rodeo as a war correspondent—he had been in Afghanistan in 2001 and Somalia in 2011. Being around strife and uncertainty was an experience he was well-versed in. He has seen a lot. He has had to cope with a lot.

But before this film, I did not know who Greste was. This brings us back to the question I asked Greste after the screening in the Q&A:

“How do you do it? How do you hype yourself up to get into such situations? I know it must be very emotionally taxing to go into very unsafe places. How do you give yourself the confidence to go into these fields?” I asked.

He answered: “I think a lot of what we do is around risk management; I sometimes compare it to electricity. If you don’t know what you’re doing, you take a screwdriver and you start poking it into a fuse box; the chances are that you are going to hurt yourself. But, there are rules, procedures and processes that you can use to reduce the risk.”

It is a good answer, but what he said after perfectly defined what this movie’s message really is.

The difference, of course, between electricity and the front lines is that the front lines introduce a randomness that you can’t control.
– Peter Greste

Journalism, at its core, is a thankless job. Most of the time, the only attention you are getting is scrutiny.

Journalism is a random job. Anything can happen. You must make sure you are prepared for whatever comes your way.

Journalism is a dangerous job. Greste is just one of many who have found themselves embroiled in the heat of conflict, and some of them have died out on their battlefields.

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, 2024 was the deadliest year for journalists so far, ever since they started collecting data more than 30 years ago. The 77-year-long Israel-Palestine conflict, which reignited after the 2023 Hamas missile strikes, has been responsible for many of these deaths.

This is, undoubtedly, a very trying time for journalists who seek to make the truth known to the world. But, what does all this have to do with the movie? Why all this talk about the dangers that journalists go through and what journalism is?

The Correspondent seeks to answer these questions, and I think it answered them well.

Maybe this film can make you care about what the spirit of journalism really is: The search for truth in an era where it is becoming increasingly hard to find. I highly recommend giving this film a watch.

The Correspondent officially releases inWA cinemas on April 17, 2025. The First Casualty, Greste’s book, which details his time in Egypt, has been revised and published under the film’s name.