Swift take: I just scored some tickets to the Snowden LIVE Fathom Event, followed up by a 45 minute Q&A with Director Oliver Stone (via sat in NY) and Edward Snowden himself (via Moscow) on September 14th. The general release of Snowden will be in theaters this Friday.
This is one of those rare times in my movie critic life where an assignment hits home in a way I’d rather not discuss, but I feel I must.
I won’t mention names, but I will tell you that one of my very good friends from my past worked for the NSA. On the fateful Tuesday in September, now fifteen years ago, I was in college and immediately reached out to my friend about if he was alive and to find out exactly what the hell happened!
He was alive, and only due to the fact that they started construction on his wing in the Pentagon. Had he been at his normal desk, he’d be in Valhalla now.
There’s no doubt in my military mind that Edward Snowden personally knows of my friend, and that if my friend were in a room with Edward, he would matter-of-fact put him down. Right on the spot. The massive damage Edward Snowden did to our intelligence apparatus is literally incalculable.
Here is a painful fact. Edward Snowden is a traitor to the United States of America. Whether or not what he did was just or not is not up to me to determine, but I know at least one person who takes his oath of secrecy as sacrosanct. Snowden’s got blood on his hands and plenty of red in his ledger.
I have my own theories about Snowden, and I will be interested to see if the movie starring one of my favorite actors, and media influencers, JGL will expose my hypothesis. My theory is that Edward was compromised by the Russians (the oldest profession), and instead of going down as the greatest traitor in NSA’s history, he decided to become a “hero of the people.” Smart.
First, he knew if he didn’t get his name out to the public, the Community would just disappear him, and he’d join countless other liabilities that couldn’t keep their traps shut . . . faceless ghosts. So he went public, and once he played that role of hero of the people, he had to keep it up, and he opted to go in with barrels blazing. Now he sits in Moscow, living on borrowed time, in a hall of mirrors, most likely terrified that at any moment the long arm of the USA will liquidate him.
Or, there’s another theory, Snowden was always a hero of the people, one of these guys that always wanted to get to the bottom of what really makes our country function, and he wanted to expose that truth. The only way to expose the truth is by working from the inside. His agenda, from the moment he joined the NSA, was to expose their illegal activity and cripple their power. But, if that was the case, why is he in Moscow? I will always ask that question. Why did he immediately flee to an old adversary that would give anything to have the keys to the kingdom that this traitor gave up? He only feels protected in enemy territory. I am old enough to remember when the KGB were the bad guys of the word, and now their head of state is a former KGB agent who has the greatest asset in espionage history!
I highly doubt this Snowden-centric film will touch on the truth, as I presume it to be, but it will be telling to see his side of the story. For my part, as an old Marine Sergeant, I would be interested to know the truth, and be it good, bad, or ugly, at least it would set him free . . . probably only in the biblical sense, at this point.
And if you want to experience this live event with me, head over to Fathom Events and find a local theater and it’ll be like you’re sitting right next to me, as we learn the truth, as Snowden sees it anyway, broadcasting from Moscow . . . where he’s living on borrowed time.
Tick-tock, tick-tock.
