Oliver Stone’s new film, SNOWDEN, enters its second week in theaters with not much of an audience. That is a shame. It is an award-worthy movie that should be seen by large audiences of all political persuasions because it raises serious issues about the role of government, about rights Americans take for granted, and about how the right to privacy has been subverted in the name of national security. It is a true, and current, story, and the film is downright exciting!
Director and co-writer Oliver Stone curbs his past excesses to build an amazingly gripping thriller about the National Security Administration whistleblower who revealed the extent of NSA spying on American citizens under both Republican George Bush and Democrat Barack Obama’s administrations. Some 90 percent of the tens of millions whose phones and emails were swept up were ordinary Americans. Simple criticisms of a government action or official earned a spot on the watch list.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt gives an understated performance as the young computer nerd Edward Snowden joins the military, inspired by patriotism to fight in Iraq. An accident during training sidelines him and he is recruited by the CIA, beginning a successful career in cyber-intelligence. He slowly and gradually becomes disillusioned over the extent of government spying on private citizens who have done nothing wrong, and video scenes of families with children being blown up by drones zeroing in on cell phones challenge his humanity.
Snowden arranges to meet with three journalists to blow the whistle on the massive surveillance operation after Director of National Intelligence James Clapper lies to Congress under oath about domestic spying. The press is scared, but decide to run the story. Ironically, the Washington Post won a Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of the Snowden leaks but has opposed the campaign to pardon him.
News soundbites bring current public personalities into the story, with Donald Trump calling Snowden a “traitor,” Hillary Clinton demanding Snowden “be held accountable,” and Bernie Sanders saying, “We all owe Snowden our thanks for forcing upon the nation important debate.” Not in the film are Libertarian and Green Party presidential candidates Gary Johnson and Jill Stein calling for pardons.
Snowden himself, who has a cameo in the film, is hiding in Russia and applying for political asylum in a number of countries. He says he wants to come home and is willing to face a jury of his peers. But that is not what faces him. Indicted under the Espionage Act, a trial would be held in secret without that jury of his peers.
Kieran Fitzgerald co-wrote the screenplay with Stone. Shailene Woodley plays Snowden’s girlfriend Lindsay Mills whom he cannot talk about his work with. The three journalists Snowden meets with are Melissa Leo as Laura Poitras, Zachary Quinto as Glenn Greenwald, and Tony Wilkinson as Ewan MacAskill. Nicholas Cage has a cameo as an NSA official who questioned something and was sidelined.
“All I wanted,” Edward Snowden says, “was for the public to be able to have a say in how they are governed.”
For all of us who believe that government is supposed to be “of the people, by the people, and for the people,” SNOWDEN is a must-see film. It is not likely to be around much longer, so see it while you can. And check out Glenn Greenwald’s online whistleblower news blog at theintercept.com.