Edward Snowden is a traitor to his government and a hero to his people.
Directed by: Oliver Stone
Written by: Kieran Fitzgerald, Oliver Stone
Cast: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Shailene Woodley, Rhys Ifans
Swift shot: Oliver Stone has directed several films that attack the military industrial complex, and he’s given his version of history on the cable series, “The Untold History of the United States.” In short, he’s no friend to the Intel Community. And now he’s found the crown jewel of his life’s work, a story about a man who before he reached thirty years old, hobbled the NSA worse than Kathy Bates in Misery! But, how much of this story is true, and how much is Hollywood? Does it really matter, or should we just focus on the message?
Edward Snowden (Gordon-Levitt) dropped out of high school to help support his, well revered, military family. He failed at becoming an Army Ranger. If he’d had better calcium, we might never have heard of him or his crusade to enlighten the American people on the liberties the NSA (and others) have taken with our liberties.
Somehow Snowden is selected by top CIA recruiter Corbin O’Brian (Ifans), despite his less than stellar academic background. What Snowden lacks in academia though, he makes up for in droves with his cyber acumen and test scores. Snowden is a self-taught whizkid that O’Brian hopes will be a key asset to the new battlefield . . . which is everywhere. See, in case you missed this fact, we are at war, every day, and not just with the boots on the ground grunts. The nerds with the glasses and shy social skills (my people) are the new military elites. Hard to fathom, I know, but it’s true. But O’Brian doesn’t know that he is the biggest mutt in Agency history, might as well call him “Lefty,” akin to Al Pacino’s character in Donnie Brasco.
But, this would be a somewhat boring story if we only focused on the man behind the glasses. As Oliver Stone put it in the Fathom Events Q&A, “We probed him [Snowden] on what his relationship was with Lindsay Mills, and that was a big surprise, because to me that was dramatic fare otherwise we’d have a hard, cold movie which could almost look like a documentary.”
Stone wanted to tell a story about the relationship between Edward Snowden and his girlfriend, Lindsay Mills (Woodley) and how that sense of right versus wrong weighs heavily on Edward’s soul. How can he continue to keep her in the dark, and America in the dark, about the crimes he is seeing committed daily by his employer?
If you think about it in micro-terms, it’s relatable.
And you’d be a complete fool to think that Edward Snowden isn’t wholeheartedly concerned about his relationship with the voyeuristic Lindsay, a woman who feels she has nothing to hide anyway. It’s a really compelling match, on one hand you have a nerdy NSA spy who is committed to keeping secrets so big they tear at his soul, and then you have a beautiful photographer who literally surrounds herself with photos of herself. Her work is to be seen, and Edward’s work is to see others. Apparently Snowden is a spy who doesn’t like to spy on others. I know, it sounds unbelievable. Maybe that part is Hollywood, Ed?
Snowden meets a less than scrupulous NSA SIGINT guy, Gabriel (Ben Schnetzer) who pulls back the curtain and reveals a whole spectrum of the searches being run using PRISM. If you aren’t familiar with PRISM, just ask Chief Justice John Roberts about it. In one chilling scene in Switzerland, the full capacity of PRISM’s power is on display. It’s nothing new to have the Agency use an exploitable weakness against a target. But with PRISM, you hardly need HUMINT guys (like yours truly dabbled in once upon a time) to get out in the field to find out where to “apply pressure.” Where’s the challenge in that, bubbas?
As Snowden finds out what his employers are really like, he resigns from the CIA . . . only to join them again later and to work as a contractor for the NSA. Technically speaking, he’s kind of like a hired cyber gun for whichever agency deems him theirs. At least that was how I understood it. It doesn’t really matter which initials he reported to, it was all under the Commander in Chief, Barack Obama. No covert activity is authorized without his direct say so. Just thought I would share that tidbit here.
Snowden isn’t a spy thriller. It’s kind of boring, actually which is true of Intel work behind a computer screen . . . I imagine. And much of the film takes place in The Mira Hong Kong Hotel with the annoying sub-plot about how The Guardian comes to publish the second biggest leak in American intelligence since Assange. Oddly enough, they took a potshot at Assange in the film, declaring his Wikileaks as no longer credible. I am sure the DNC didn’t “apply pressure” to the filmmakers. Right?
That part, even as a journalist, didn’t intrigue me. I have never given too much thought about who is delivering a message. Which is why I find shows like “The Newsroom” annoying and self serving for the media. For instance, some guy with a cellphone in Pakistan broke the story of the century on Twitter as he watched a chopper crash on May 2, 2011. I have no idea who that user was, and I don’t care. So, sorry The Guardian, the whole aspect of who put out the story was dead on delivery. And speaking of that, Quinto’s performance bordered on the ridiculous as Greenwald. Oscar winner Melissa Leo was completely superfluous.
Gordon-Levitt and Woodley had some decent chemistry, but they weren’t given much to work with in the way of solid story-telling. Woodley as Lindsay has one great scene where she shows up her man in trade-craft at an embassy party where Snowden is supposed to be playing his hand at HUMINT work. His skills are cringe-worthy. Lindsay’s are commendable. Again, maybe just Hollywood?
Overall, I wasn’t impressed with the film in a sense of what I expect from Oliver Stone, this was no Platoon or JFK. I guess as we celebrated his 70th, live via theaters across the nation courtesy of Fathom events, it is evident he is getting a little sluggish on and off camera. But I don’t think this film will have a big draw for your average American. I could be wrong, we’ll see.
I am a big history nerd, and I love anything dealing with espionage. It has always fascinated me what would make someone betray their country. There was a time when something like what Snowden did would have been met with nothing but hostility, as we would have treated him like a traitor. Remember, Edward Snowden is now under the “care” of Vladimir Putin. He never made it to Ecuador like his handler Assange.
But, these are no ordinary times. The level of distrust in our government is at a crescendo like I have never seen in my life! What’s more, it is warranted distrust. It’s deplorable, really.
Still, while the film wasn’t the most fun, I did enjoy learning more about Snowden and maybe a little bit more about why he did what he did. I like to think it was out of some righteous loyalty to the Bill of Rights, but who knows for sure? This is, as I expected, a very egocentric film, with Snowden as a hero of the people. But, he’s also a traitor, and as I have said since I heard he fled to Russia . . . he can be both.
I appreciated one final thought that Edward Snowden said via satellite from Moscow that really made me take a step back, “Privacy is the fountainhead of all other rights, freedom of speech doesn’t have a lot of meaning if you can’t have a quiet space . . . arguing that you don’t care about privacy because you have nothing to hide is like arguing that you don’t care about free speech, because you have nothing to say.”
Think about it . . .
