No. 35 (2022) ITHAKA April 24th.

 

Film No. 35 (2022)  April  24th.  6.00 PM   Cinema 1.  LUNA,  Leederville.

 

"The story is, I'm attempting, in my own modest way, to get Julian out of "the shit". (John Shipton, Julian Assange's father, discusses his determination to free his son).

I'm an aging lefty who believes when it comes to governments, revealing the truth is an expectation. Governments will reinforce the fact it is embedded into their DNA. That it will be a priority in how they will govern. Joe Biden emphasised the point during his January 2022 Inauguration speech. So why is Julian Assange still in a high security prison in the U.K. ?

ITHAKA takes us on an intimate journey with Assange's most loyal allies; his father, John Shipton, and his wife, Stella Moris. We spend two years "in the pockets" of John and Stella as they, visit Julian, facetime with Julian, talk with lawyers, agonise over red-tape and try to snatch snippets of recreational time as they fit other family matters into their lives.

U.K. film-maker Ben Lawrence (GHOSTHUNTER, HEARTS AND BONES) reminds us, via the people who truly care, that important questions of journalistic and human rights are simply going unanswered. The tension in the film is built via the monthly, then daily countdown to the British High Court deciding if Assange should be extradited to the U.S.  

Greek poet C.P Cavafy in his poem Ithaka asks that as we achieve our goals, we never lose awareness of the journey (life). It may be that this film's title has nothing to do with Cavafy's words, but watching Assange's wife Stella achieve each day's goals with their two small boys, one couldn't help but hope their journey will be worth it.

If there is one message in ITHAKA that makes me angriest it's that Assange sits in the U.K.'s most secure prison, with the country's most dangerous criminals. His only activity from a U.K. POV was that he sought and gained asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy for seven and a half years, thus embarrassing a government who surely had "bigger fish to fry" (Brexit and humanitarian questions relating to illegal immigration). There seems no hint of a crime here. The Americans believe that he revealed national secrets, and that is his crime. This from a country spouting the virtues of their 1st Amendment, the virtue of free speech.

Is there a more high profile "Political Football" than Julian Assange?  9GUMS.