Instead of Blowing Whistles, Snowden Just Blew.
Carlee Kime - UC110
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Snowden is a drawn out and exaggerated version of a story that has been retold by an exponentially increasing number of media outlets. Oliver Stone wrote and directed this particular retelling of the story of the infamous whistleblower, Edward Snowden. He was ultimately a low-level contractor for both the CIA and NSA, getting his hands on extremely sensitive files concerning how far the American government monitors our communications technology. According to a timeline compiled by Al Jazeera America, Snowden released said files to the public in 2013 (Eaton). The overall theme of the movie and the message Edward Snowden himself wanted to send is that the right thing is not always the easy thing to do.


The movie opens with Snowden and his ‘team’ in a hotel in Hong Kong as they start the process of releasing sensitive information on the internet. Then, in a series of flashbacks, the audience is informed (mostly) chronologically of how Snowden’s time in the CIA, his personal life, and him discovering said information he later released to the public. You see Snowden battle an internal conflict of what matters most to him; the woman he loves, his job, or his own personal morals. The film strongly appeals to all three rhetorical devices, however kicks itself when it comes to ethos and logos. By exaggerating Snowden’s role in the CIA and NSA the film stretches the truth, hurting its overall credibility.


Because Snowden marketed itself as a nonfiction reenactment of real events, the film does strongly appeal to logos by presenting information about Edward Snowden’s life. Before I saw Snowden I had a general idea of what he did, but I didn’t really know the whole truth. I thought that this movie would have given me and many others in my situation the truth, but after doing further research I realized that Oliver Stone had severely stretched the truth. I expected there to be less inaccuracies among the plot. While I understand Stone was trying to paint the picture that Snowden is a modern day hero— I don’t believe it was necessary to stretch the truth as far as the film did. This causes the film to hurt both appeals to ethos and logos.


There were many distinct differences between the story that actually happened and the one Oliver Stone told. There are several specific pieces of information laid out in the film that simply aren’t true. In the film, Snowden quits the CIA due to moral reasons. In reality and according to Fred Kaplan of Slate Magazine, officials have gone on record saying that Snowden was actually fired from the CIA because he was caught “prowling around files where he had no business prowling” (Kaplan). The plot of the film, however, makes it seem like Snowden was fully allowed and supposed to look at these files. The CIA did not record what they had found in Snowden’s employment record, so he went to work for the NSA in Hawaii as a contractor hired by Dell. According to Kaplan, he was “basically a Mr. Fix-It for their computer networks.” He could access a vast amount of files, however he “wouldn’t have had any role in developing something like EpicShelter” (Kaplan) unlike what was portrayed in the film. Stone almost made it seem like EpicShelter was Snowden’s idea. Real life Snowden was then hired in the NSA as a “high-level analyst” because Booz Allen Hamilton noticed Dell wasn’t using Snowden to the best of his abilities. The film clams that Snowden was actually sent to this job by the deputy director of the NSA. Kaplan reached out to the real deputy director of the NSA, Chris Inglis, on how the film portrayed Snowden’s role in the NSA. Inglis explained to Kaplan that both assigning a task like that to a low-level contractor and an idea that Snowden had a “special project” was “simply and utterly preposterous.” I feel Inglis explained the truth well by creating an analogy; “If you want to know the ins and outs of a fighter aircraft squadron’s purposes, tactics and SOPs, you don’t get that from a contractor hires to refuel its airplanes.” Snowden was actually hired into the analyst position through a traditional interview (Kaplan). By portraying Snowden as a high level employee of both the NSA and CIA, it gives off the impression that Snowden just released what he had access to— but really Snowden was not authorized to know what he did. Snowden adds to the tarnish on the “based on a true story” genre by stretching the truth just a bit too far, just like many movies of the sort.


One of the few strong points of the film is how Oliver Stone made us view Snowden as a relatable human being. By focusing on his relationship with his girlfriend, we relate to Snowden on a more personal level. The film also shows us that he is witty, and that quick thinking came to his advantage when literally smuggling the files out of the NSA headquarters in Hawaii. This created a strong appeal to pathos. Because Stone does this so successfully, we imagine ourselves in Snowden’s position.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Shailene Woodley as 

Ed Snowden and Lindsay Mills

(variety.com) 

Stone also made very skillful casting choices. While he could have attached many huge names in Hollywood to this film— because of his credibility and how controversial this topic is— Stone decided to go with actors who are not very popular right now. Snowden is the first large leading role for Joseph Gordon-Levitt since the 2012 science fiction film Looper. The female protagonist is Snowden’s long term girlfriend, Lindsey, played by Shailene Woodley plays Snowden’s long term girlfriend, Lindsay Mills. In my opinion, this is one of Shailene’s first serious roles. While her previous movies like The Fault In Our Stars and the Divergent series are dramatic roles, those movies are meant for young adults, and lack true substance. Levitt and Woodley had a real chemistry on screen, and played the unlikely couple well. Nick Cage, Zachary Quinto, and Scott Eastwood played strong supporting roles in the film. Another up and coming actor, Ben Schnetzer, made a wonderful impression on me. He portrayed Snowden’s coworker that opened his eyes to the vast power the NSA and CIA held. (IMDb).


Edward Snowden, both in real life and the film, did showcase one theme: that the right thing is not always easy to do. By publishing the information that the American government is spying on everything people do on an international level, we are now less ignorant to the fact we are being watched. The first piece of information that real Snowden released was that Verizon and other huge cell phone carriers were providing the NSA with almost all of its customers’ records. The film explained the bulk of Snowden’s concerns, but mainly how secret court orders allowed the NSA to collect as much information as they did. In order to keep from tipping off potential terror threats that they were being watched, these acts allow the NSA to search through someone’s files without notifying them. Not only is the NSA ‘spying’ on American citizens, but on citizens in other countries and even other world leaders. (Franceschi-Bicchierai).


The Obama administration has taken action against the NSA since Snowden released the documents, and the House of Representatives passed the first law beginning to change what the NSA can and can’t do. (Franceschi-Bicchierai). Snowden was the spark that set off a huge conversation about cyber security in not only America, but all over the globe. The film Snowden calls attention to his struggle in a somewhat easy to digest yet overlong piece.


Personally, I believe that Snowden changed the way we see government surveillance, and opened our eyes to what really happens in the intelligence branch of our government. Many agree with my opinion but there is also a strong dissenting opinion that Edward Snowden is just a traitor, and only a traitor, for revealing these government secrets. I can agree that Snowden broke the law, and should face consequences like every other American citizen would, but I do not think they should be severe. Snowden did this country a service by making its citizens question the government, forcing the government to be more honest in return.

Works Cited

Eaton, Joshua. "Timeline of Edward Snowden's Revelations." Fact-Based, In-Depth News. America Aljazeera, n.d. 27 Sept. 2016. Web.


Franceschi-Bicchierai, Lorenzo. “Edward Snowden: The 10 Most Important Revelations From His Leaks.” Mashable. N.p., 05 June 2014. 26 Sept 2016. Web.


Kaplan, Fred. "The Leaky Myths of Snowden." Slate Magazine. N.p., 16 Sept. 2016. 26 Sept. 2016. Web.


“Snowden” IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. 26 Sept. 2016. Web.