Film: Citizenfour

Well, I decided to head to Citizenfour today. It's showing in both the Prince Charles and the ICA - I chose the Prince Charles, purely because that was the earlier showing. And I even managed to get there in time! (Roughly, despite having to weave my way around many groups of confused tourists.) Well, they were showing ads - I don't mind missing them, it's the trailers I enjoy. There weren't any this time, mind. I got a seat in the back row - love their comfy leather chairs. Didn't quite love the fact that, at various points during the film, we could hear The Sound of Music blaring from somewhere nearby..

The trailer for this looked good, it's had a consistently high rating, and been in the listings for ages. Justifiably - it's an immensely powerful film. Won the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature last year. This being the third in a series of exposes by the director about the doings of the American government following 9/11, she's moved permanently to Berlin to avoid the worst of the government's surveillance of her. In short, it's the story of Edward Snowden, starting with his early communications with journalist Glenn Greenwald, and carrying through the breaking of the story as far as him being granted a year's asylum in Russia, and his partner joining him there. (Interestingly, as an aside, I see Glenn Greenwald has moved to live with his partner in Rio, citing fear of arrest if he returns to the States.) Hmm.. so that's four people the US government has driven out of the country for breaking this story.

Let's be honest - this film, and the story behind it, is a PR disaster for Obama. He comes out of it looking like either a liar or - more plausibly - a puppet. As someone pointed out in the film, he once promised to curtail the very actions he's now seen to support. If you don't happen to know the story, Ed Snowden worked for the NSA as an IT systems administrator, meaning he had highest level clearance. What he found there shocked him, and he decided to share it with the public. That's what got him - and everyone around him - into all this hot water.

What he found was that the US government routinely snoops on anyone it feels like, without court approval. And then lies about it to the court - "Oh no, your honour, we don't do anything like that!" Funny, I seem to remember this was pretty much what Watergate was about. Funny, I never heard of Woodward & Bernstein having to flee the country.. or, for that matter, Alan J. Pakula, who directed the film. How times change.

A note near the end of the film puts 1.2 million people on the US watchlist. Mind you, Ed Snowden's opinion is that the UK is much worse in terms of the surveillance it keeps on its citizens. I wouldn't be surprised (the US dog does wag the UK tail, as ever). A couple of other things struck me in the film. One was the mention by the leader of a group of activists of how the government was trying to link people's debit cards to their Metro cards, so they could centralise data collection. Ooh, another reason for me not to go contactless (same thing, in London)! and an explanation for why the government is pushing it so relentlessly. Well hey, it's of no advantage to me anyway. So I'm happy to skip it.

Another thing that struck me in the film was when one speaker said, "You know how everyone's talking about the destruction of privacy? Try substituting, for that, the word 'freedom'. Now how does that sound?"  Quite. It's been said before - if the terrorists push the US government into abolishing all its citizens' rights, including the liberty for which it's historically famous - doesn't that mean that the terrorists have already won?

Stirring, thought-provoking stuff. Executive producer Steven Soderbergh. Go see. Oh, and hello to any NSA Europe outposts that are monitoring my blog! (Not a joke - they had Angela Merkel's phone number, in the film). Nice to have you here - keep reading, I could always do with more readers.

Coming out, I was hungry, but unwilling to go to Chinatown - the quality is generally bad, and even when I find a good place, it doesn't stay good. Passing tourist trade, you see - no incentive to improve. I'm also spoiled by having such a good Chinese, five minutes walk from home. I could have eaten there, but was on a downer from the film. Instead, I fancied doing a shop and eating at home. I knew there's a Tesco just off Piccadilly Circus, on Regent Street, and I figured that wouldn't be so far to walk from Leicester Square. So it wasn't - but it's been a while since I did it, and I had to consult a map, passing several raucous buskers en route. Basically, head across Leicester Square with the Tube Station behind you, and you'll be in Piccadilly Circus in minutes. Take the next left for Tesco, when you get there.

For tomorrow, I've booked a ticket for Purcell's Baroque opera, The Indian Queen, in the Coliseum. And I'm off to Guildford on Tuesday..