Citizenfour (2014)
Genre: Documentary / Biography
Duration: 114 minuten
Country:
United States / Germany / United Kingdom
Directed by: Laura Poitras
Stars: Edward Snowden, Glenn Greenwald and William Binney
IMDb score:
8,0 (60.503)
Releasedate: 10 October 2014
Citizenfour plot
It's hard to believe that it's been nearly two years since the world had never heard of Edward Snowden or what the NSA really did behind closed doors. His revelation about the vast amount of intelligence intelligence was collecting about Americans and people around the world hit like a bomb. This movie goes back to the beginning of the story.
Reviews & comments
Bottleneck
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- 8233 messages
- 2123 votes
Just the realization that you now see the 'live' images of what was brought out about Snowden at the time, I find very interesting (like the reveal in the hotel room in Hong Kong). Despite the 'dullness' of filming and editing, the documentary has a simmering tension, knowing what's hanging over Snowden's head and given his guts and intelligence. Finery might even be out of place in such a realistic story.
I understand the position of the filmmaker, but it's a shame that except for a few sentences, there is no attention to the reasons why institutions like the NSA collect information. The literal statement that the data collection is a goal - (it is a means ..) - passed between nose and lips - I therefore find evidence of a kind of tunnel vision that seemed to bother several people.
As far as a never fully informed citizen like me can judge, I class Snowden's actions as high treason as much as heroism, if not more. Intelligence services would never be able to play their true trump card (make known in real time how many are arrested, attacks thwarted, etc.). The question would therefore arise as to what number is sufficient to justify the gigantic data collection and storage, but that is a discussion apart.
Apart from those kinds of views, it is a strong documentary that also gives a good sketch of the modern zeitgeist (the privacy-versus-security issue).
Translated from Dutch · View original
Donkerwoud
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- 8928 messages
- 4077 votes
Whistleblowers, modern technology and the consequences for the rule of law. More than enough material for a relevant time document about the role Edward Snowden played in leaking information about the far-reaching power of intelligence agencies like the NSA. It is probably important, but it is no longer very interesting for a viewer in 2017. Edward Snowden is fiddling with a laptop a bit and explains why it is crucial that the viewer takes him seriously. In incomprehensible jargon - for the layman like me - he explains how individual freedoms are endangered by the way the American intelligence services use modern technology. Ominous music is played on the soundtrack and a threatening narrator makes us realize how urgent everything shown is. A bit easy-going and populist, but I don't have enough knowledge about the matter to make any meaningful statements about it. For what it's worth, Snowden seems like a nice guy.
Translated from Dutch · View original
mrklm
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- 12883 messages
- 10719 votes
Laura Poitras has been on a US government 'watch list' since her critical documentary My Country My Country (2006) and even moved to Berlin to minimize harassment. That's exactly why whistleblower Edward Snowden, an IT professional who wrote government programs designed to stealthily collect private data from unsuspecting, innocent citizens on a massive scale, decided to ask for her help in publishing the sensitive information. and the evidence he had gathered for it. Poitras filmed Snowden's conversations with The Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald in which the strategy is determined by which the information is released. The data may be static and not everyone will fully understand the technical details, but those who want to get an idea of who Edward Snowden was and is should not miss this. And it is very exciting at times.
Translated from Dutch · View original
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