The Correspondent: A Gripping Tale of Uncomfortable Truths

The Correspondent, directed by Kriv Stenders, tells the story of the former war correspondent Peter Greste, who was detained in Cairo on charges of terrorism.

Former war correspondent Peter Greste whose 2018 memoir inspired The Correspondent, (Credit: Flickr)

While released in cinemas on April 17, a special preview screening was held at The Capitol on April 1, where audiences witnessed a live discussion between Peter Greste and Richard Roxburgh (Van Helsing, Rake), who portrayed Greste in the movie.

The 119-minute run time felt longer than it was, a testament to Greste’s slow and agonising 400 days in prison.

The movie begins with a shot of Cairo’s sweltering sun, followed by glimpses into the catastrophe that plagued its streets towards the end of 2013.

The Correspondent is based on Greste’s 2018 memoir, The First Casualty, which depicts his arrest, imprisonment, and trial in Cairo.

At the Q&A session following the movie’s screening, Greste explained that he was guilty by association; his previous employer, Al Jazeera, had ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, which the Egyptian government deemed to be a terrorist organisation.

Throughout the movie, Stenders used light and motifs of heat to depict the essence of each scene, as well as to guide the audience’s emotions. From the start, audiences were submerged in a sea of reds and oranges as Greste reported on the chaos of the ongoing protest.

Stenders used the warmth to symbolise the bright and burning passion held by both Greste in his reporting and by the activists rallying against their suppressive government.

At the moment Greste is arrested, all signs of light are absent. Greste is thrown into the dark — literally and figuratively. Stenders practically forces the audience to sit beside Greste in his cold and dark prison cell. The absence of music and the lack of light becomes an embodiment of Greste’s feelings; confused, lonely, and hopeless.

Later in the Q&A, Greste expressed his thoughts on his arrest.

“It wasn’t about me or Al Jazeera. It was simply about the fact that it was because they wanted to attack media freedom. They wanted to send a very clear message to all journalists, but they came after me because I was politically convenient,” he said.

Fiona McIntyre, a Sessional Academic at RMIT University, reflects this sentiment. 

“He was a bit of a pawn in all of the power play that was going on there,” she said.

Stenders truly takes the immersive experience of watching movies to another level - to put audiences in Greste’s headspace, most scenes in the prison are accompanied by a deep whirring sound, just low enough for audiences to barely notice. This subtle but important piece of sound production builds a sense of impending fear and unease, much like what Greste experienced.

“That feeling of claustrophobia, of a loss of control, of panic and so on; they really nailed that,” said Greste.

For McIntyre, the film resonated on a deeper level. Having also been detained in a foreign country, she believes the film accurately depicted the horrific nature of the experience. 

“I remember being absolutely perplexed and just terrified,” she said. “I had that feeling of being in some sort of Kafka play.” 

Through clever choices in casting, directing and writing, The Correspondent manages to bring Greste’s story to life and make a statement about the current state of press freedom.

Greste says the movie shows the “absolute relevance” of the role of journalists in the context of today’s global conflicts.

“We are, at the moment, in a situation where we have record numbers of journalists who’ve been murdered for their work,” said Greste.

Richard Roxburgh talked about the lack of respect towards policies protecting journalists, such as the Geneva Convention. I believe there is an “attack on truth” when journalists are considered “enemy combatants,” Roxburgh stated. 

McIntyre believed that reporting driven by public interest often requires journalists to search in places that nobody else will, “and sometimes in order to shine a light like that, you’re doing it at the edge of ethical journalism.”

Despite the movie’s conclusion seeming to have tied up all loose ends, it amplifies the questions that it posed since the beginning: are we able to rely on governments to enact justice on our behalf? More importantly, are we able to trust them to save us?

Greste’s story is just one of many journalists who have had to go through the same - or much worse - experiences as he did. The Correspondent is a deep dive into the real issues that journalists must be prepared to face when going up against those who wish to eradicate truth; it is both a reflection and a reminder of how truth-telling has become grounds for war and violence.

As of 2025, Peter Greste is still a convicted terrorist; in 2015, he returned to Australia without pardon or explanation.