Film: Snowden

With a change in tv schedules (again) today, I was left with a convenient gap in my schedule - so turned to my film backlog of Snowden, The Unbelievable Truth, Time (all on Amazon Prime), and Zero de Conduite, on the Internet Archive. All at the same rating. Snowden it was, a dramatisation of the life of Edward Snowden, who was a computer analyst for various highly sensitive U.S. government departments, until he discovered a level of surveillance of the general population that shocked him so much that he leaked a whole load of sensitive information to the world's media. Directed by Oliver Stone, it stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt in the title role, Rhys Ifans as his recruiter for the C.I.A., Nicholas Cage as a disillusioned lecturer at the C.I.A. training college that Snowden attends, Tom Wilkinson as the Guardian reporter that he leaks the info to, and Joely Richardson as the Guardian editor.

I saw CitizenFour, the documentary about Snowden, back in 2015 - the year before this was released. (See my post on that, linked to, for more details about the actual case.) The person that films him constantly as he's releasing information in this film is actually depicting the director of that documentary. And I'll just say this - he's much better-looking in real life than Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who portrays him! Just an observation, but it's unusual, don't you think? He does his mannerisms perfectly though.

Oliver Stone films are always nice, tense thrillers, and this is very pacy - helped along by the fact that Snowden's girlfriend plays quite a prominent role in this story - because we get more of an insight into his private life; she had nothing to do with his work or his decision to go public. We get some of his backstory too, which explains how he started in the army - had to leave because of injury, and decided to head for the C.I.A. instead. Very patriotic, you see, wanted to help his country. What I found incredible was how shocked he was at the C.I.A.'s practices - both online and in the field. Had the man never seen a James Bond film?

Anyway, he soon finds out what's really going on, and finally decides he can't take this level of surveillance of normal people. The idea seems to crystallise with him at a meeting with his recruiter, who lets slip that they've been monitoring him and his girlfriend. The meeting is by videoconference, where the whole wall of the room acts as a massive screen - and when the recruiter leant in, and his massive head filled the wall from floor to ceiling, I couldn't but be reminded of Big Brother. Very appropriate.

Snowden, in this film, is given some lines that imply that he's a sort of genius - apparently his real life role wasn't so lofty. But the basics are true enough - and yes, this is the sort of film that will make you at least think about what the government could be doing to you. Any government. But the scenery in Hawaii, where he last worked - what we see of it - is gorgeous. Stone, apparently, shot mostly outside the U.S., for fear of interference from the government. Recommended viewing.

And London Social Detours is back tomorrow, with another British Heroes and Villains talk. Well, I'll risk it - although I reserve the right to sign off again if that angry chipmunk starts chirping!