Ithaka

During the opening scenes of Ithaka, Ben Lawrence’s documentary about John Shipton’s tireless campaign for his son Julian Assange’s freedom from what he and his supporters consider to be unjust incarceration, Shipton resolutely rejects the notion that one can “make sense of life by imposing on life a narrative”. A man of intriguing contradictions, however, Shipton speaks of his love of building homes, claiming that “a home is a stage for the theatre of life”. He also speaks of his “love of family”, almost in the same breath as recounting the act of burning all of his family photos after his father’s death. “Humans are complex” is his reply to a question regarding his motivation for such an extreme gesture. 

The complexity of this particular human, whose life continues in commitment to a son he did not really know until he was an adult, certainly makes for a ripe character study. Adjacent to the role of Shipton is Stella Moris, Assange’s fiancée, legal advisor and mother to his two children. Moris is a stalwart presence throughout the process of campaigning for his freedom. Shipton, however, with his peaceful, mannered demeanour, provides the enigmatic intrigue of the documentary. 

There is a tension, which the documentary overcomes rather smoothly, between the strands of the film that focus on the allure of Shipton’s elusive yet rather warm personality, and the broader political and judicial issues surrounding his son’s plight. Lawrence is able to outline with clarity the course of events that led his subjects to their current circumstances and their implications for freedom of press, while maintaining an emotional truth. 

The open-ended nature of the Assange story means that closure in the traditional narrative sense is not granted. Lawrence is able, however, to work with what he’s given by Shipton to mould an emotional (whisper it) narrative that is, for the most part, effective.

Matthew McMillan

Ithaka is released in select cinemas on 8^th July 2022.

Watch the trailer for Ithaka here: