The Star's critic MARIA DUARTE recommends an impressive impersonation of Bob Dylan
A hero of our time
The Star's critic MARIA DUARTE is compelled by a lucid, if partisan, account of the Assange case that highlights the acquiescence of the Australian government
The Star's critic MARIA DUARTE reviews Here, Vermiglio, William Tell and Wolf Man
New releases from Thorpe and Morrison, Daria Kulesh, and Will Finn and Rosie Calvert
RINA ARYA confronts the brutal operation of Francis Bacon’s approach to portraiture
Emphasising his continuous engagement in labour movement struggles, ALISTAIR FINDLAY salutes John Foster’s contribution as activist, strategist, intellectual and defender of the Morning Star
ANDY MIAH advocates the use of AI to assist people by expanding access to global literature and culture
EWAN KOTZ relishes a veteran Glasgow band that have lost none of their verve for live performance
The Trust Fall: Julian Assange (15)
Directed by Kym Staton
IT is almost five years now that the founder of WikiLeaks Julian Assange has been held in Britain’s high-security Belmarsh prison without conviction, where he is still fighting extradition to the US where he faces up to 175 years in prison for publishing classified documents exposing US war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan.
His failing health, the smear campaign waged against him, and the impact on free speech if he is prosecuted in the US are all explored in Kym Staton’s powerful and thought-provoking new documentary, which features graphic images of violence.
Filmed over two years and narrated by Susan Sarandon, Roger Waters, M.I.A, Tom Morello and Jonathan Oldham, it features the video of the Collateral Murder incident which put a target on Assange’s back and is the basis of the espionage charges he is being accused of. It shows US soldiers laughing as they kill around a dozen civilians, including two Reuters journalists in 2007 in New Baghdad, Iraq, and injuring two youngsters. It makes harrowing viewing.
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