CHRISTINE Assange provides a unique review of the film about her son, Julian. After all, she was there.

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AS you might expect with a fictionalised movie about your own family, my reaction to Underground: The Julian Assange Story is mixed, given my knowledge of the characters and events.

I was relieved and very happy to see how accurately Julian was portrayed, particularly his motivations in relation to his non-criminal, "look-see" hacking activities and how the troubling information he discovered inspired his search for truth and justice - and the creation of the whistleblowing site WikiLeaks.

Newcomer Alex Williams was so convincing at times I actually felt I was looking at my son. It was also great to see aspects of Julian's personality brought out that aren't normally seen by the public, such as his cheeky sense of humour and the warmth and sensitivity he showed as a young father.

But I did cringe at times while viewing the portrayal of my own character.

That's not because of Rachael Griffiths' acting which actually saved the day, but because of the script and dialogue which perpetuates the media myth that I was an anti-American, left-leaning activist.

I was never that. As predominantly an artist and mother, I encouraged creativity, compassion, truth seeking, critical thinking and a sense of justice in my children.

Our conversations were broad based with an emphasis on genuine enquiry into truth rather than narrow political thought. This is an important distinction to understand any influence I had on Julian.

Like many others my biggest political awakening was a result of reading the WikiLeaks publications which exposed war crimes and global corruption.

Contrary to what was shown in the film, I reacted with calm and support when informed about the news of my first grandchild.

And although we were stalked and harassed for a number of years by my younger son's father - as has happened to many other women - the only time his possible connection to a cult was mentioned was to me personally with a speculative comment by a private investigator I happened to meet.

It was never verified! Magnifying and sensationalising this in the movie unnecessarily detracted from the authenticity of the movie as a serious examination of Julian's earlier life.