This
movie tells the story that we all know, or think we know, about American
fugitive Edward Snowden. From his early years in the Army to fleeing from the
United States government, this biographical drama tells the story of how
Snowden became an enemy of the State. The film starts back in 2003 with Edward
being discharged from the Army, after he breaks his leg, rendering him unfit to
serve his country. He later finds other ways to serve the United States. The
somewhat relatable Snowden goes through many internal and external conflicts,
most of them including his girlfriend, Lindsey. Snowden gives an inside look to his relationship with his
girlfriend, who he met online. He starts out at a school for technology
training for the CIA, where he meets two of his mentors that he will keep in
contact with over many years. He moves from job to job in the Central
Intelligence Agency to the National Security Agency where he becomes a
contractor. Through his time, he learns of many secret projects that the
government is putting into place on the American people, watching them through
the means of their webcams. He even finds out that the government is watching
him and the people he loves. After many years dealing with the most classified
information and using the best technology, he decides to leak what he has
learned. Is he a hero or a traitor?
Back
in 2013, everyone knew about Edward Snowden and what he had done, even myself.
Mostly everyone around me told me he was a bad man that just wanted attention
and that he was crazy. After seeing this film, I think otherwise. Snowden really takes you back to where
it all began for the ex-NSA analyst. It goes into details about his work and
how he got to be where he is now. I think that was one of the strongest points
of the film, was how detailed it really was about Snowden’s life, and explains
things you otherwise wouldn’t know about. It gives you an inside look at what
government programs are in place to keep an eye on not only foreign threats but
also the American people. In an article written about the movie included in the
New York Times, A.O Scott says that the director “tells a story from slightly
faded headlines, filling in some details you may have forgotten.” (Oliver
Stone’s Restrained Portrait of a Whistle-Blower, Scott) The plot of this movie
can be slow moving at times, but you get many details that you otherwise
wouldn’t. One detail includes Snowden’s relationship with his girlfriend
Lindsey, which I think plays an important part in the movie. It shows what was
as=t stake for Snowden when he went to the media with what he knew. The film
also shows the struggles between the couple as he moves from job to job around
the world. This movie really didn’t amaze me, but it definitely got me thinking
about what our government may be doing to the American people and to people
around the world. And because of that, I do think it is a decent movie because
it really does make you think. Another strength of this movie is that they
actually include the real Edward Snowden at the end of the movie, as he talks
to a lecture hall via webcam from his home in Moscow, where he went to seek
asylum from the government. It makes him as a person very real, which adds
realness to the movie.
This movie fits into a relatively new subgenre of film
called a biographical drama based on recent events. It is based on true events,
but some are dramatized to make them more interesting. The events of Edward
Snowden leaking secret information took place in 2013, making it a very recent
event. It adds a whole new level to the genre of biographical films. These
types of movies can put many new details into something that happened recently,
and make you rethink what you thought happened during that time. It could be a
film about a hacker turned whistle-blower or the killing of Osama Bin Laden by
Seal Team Six as portrayed in the film Zero
Dark Thirty. Both of these films fit into the same genre of biographical
dramas about a recent event.
The
theme of this film has to do with the governments use of public surveillance,
and what is being kept from the American people. The theme stays the same
throughout the whole movie. The theme starts being shown when Snowden finds out
about a web interface that can search for anyone and anything, and can hack
into webcams on laptops and watch what people are doing. The theme also turns
political, with the whole movie talking about the U.S government and its
programs, including the CIA and NSA. That continues throughout, even when he
finally releases the information about the top secret programs that the
American government has, and also the British governments capabilities of
surveillance.
This movie is full of cultural context. In this day and
age, technology is a huge part of everyone’s lives. Our whole lives are run
through a screen. Technology is advancing every day, and the government isn’t
lagging behind. I am sure that there is even more programs and policies put in
place since 2013 that still put many people under the governments radar. In
2013, Snowden leaked “over 150 articles to 23 news organizations.” (New Film
Tells the Story of Edward Snowden; Here Are the Surveillance Programs He Helped
Expose, McLaughlin and Cooper) That put into perspective how much the
government knows about everyday people. Snowden knows that his girlfriend is
being watched through the webcam on her laptop, and eventually his whole house
becomes bugged with ways to spy on him. This type of spying is also shown when
him and a man he works with hack into an Indian banker’s daughter webcam, also
through her laptop, with no problems at all. That’s the way the world is now with
technology moving forward so rapidly. Today, anyone and everyone can hack into
anything. Just last week, someone hacked into the Yahoo! data base and hacked
into over 500 million accounts. Another way this movie shows how our culture is
now, is a real video shown during the film of the director of the NSA lying to
Congress when asked, “Does the government have programs that are spying on the
American people?” and he responds with no. It shows where our government is,
and how they will lie no matter what. In all, the movie itself really shows the
state of our nation, and shows the advancement of technology over time.
Overall I thought this movie wasn’t very good or
exciting, but it definitely made you think. It also takes you back to the time
when all of this was actually going on with Edward Snowden, and how much the
media likes to stretch the truth about subjects and wants to make some people
to be the bad guy, even when no one knows the whole story. The film didn’t blow
me away, but it gave me new insight to the events of Edward’s life from the
early 2000’s to now. It made him a relatable person, showing his relationship with
his girlfriend and his conflict with himself, wondering if he should go public
with the intel that he knew about, even knowing his family and the people he
loved would be put in danger. It gave you an inside look to what our government
is hiding from us, and what they lie about to protect the American people, even
if it could cause more harm than good. It also showed how media can shift our
minds into thinking a certain way about a certain thing.
McLaughlin, Jenna and
Cooper, Talya. “New Film Tells the Story of Edward Snowden Here Are the Surveillance Programs He Helped Expose” The Intercept. https://theintercept.com/2016/09/16/new-film-tells-the-story-of-edward-snowden-here-are-the-surveillance-programs-he-helped-expose/
Scott, A.O. “Review:
‘Snowden’, Oliver Stone’s Restrained Portrait of a Whistleblower.” New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/16/movies/snowden-review-oliver-stone-joseph-gordon-levitt.html?_r=0
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