SNOWDEN Review
Snowden (2016)
A Review By Ben Hunter
3½ Out Of 5 Stars
GET TO THE POINT
BEN!
Once fled the scene of
conception, I charge this film with “cooking the books” to tell a particular narrative.
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Are the police targeting a specific race of people? Is this so rooted in hatred that it spans
back further than we’d like to fathom?
Is a particular candidate to be the leader of the free world and
superior of our great nation held by a different set of standards than the rest
of? All causing some of our citizens to
express a distasteful interest in our country?
Such distaste displayed on our professional football fields, now
overlapping into our professional basketball courts, soccer fields, and now on
the high school levels as well, influencing our younger minds.
Completely rooted in one cause.
Patriotism.
How far will love for one’s country take them? And when is the line crossed in such
acts? Leading to questions of legality and how we must conduct ourselves as individuals and as a society.
Director Oliver Stone takes us into his latest narrative
displaying the “patriotism” of one Edward Joseph Snowden (nicely portrayed,
high pitched accent and all, by the talented Joseph Gordon-Levitt who’s earned
my full attention since 2012’s The DarkKnight Rises), who stole 1.5 million classified documents, vital to the
nation’s security, that he deemed was incriminating of our country’s government,
showcasing how our privacy and civil liberties as citizens are at risk.
Or was he indeed “patriotic”? I again put that in quotes because, after
seeing the film, it’s clear that Stone, being a part of one side of the
political aisle that comprise just about all of the industry that is Hollywood
, was out to tell a certain story with this particular film. Being of the influence of the left, Stone
showcased Snowden as the true hero who will do whatever it takes to protect his
country, even if it means breaking the law and going against his country “on
the surface” to save said country for the greater good. He can do no wrong, he did no wrong, and
President Obama should grant Snowden’s request for pardonableness with the film’s
debut.
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| Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Edward Snowden in Oliver Stone's latest: Snowden. |
In anticipation of the movie and it’s positive light shed on
the protagonist, the House Permanent Select Committee submitted a 36 page, 230
footnoted, classified document revealing Snowden’s behavior in the events
depicted in the film and beyond of what the film couldn’t fit in its 2 hour run
time.
In the executive summary of the report that was released to the
public, apparently, Snowden was not a whistleblower just doing what he felt was
right in the situation. Had he revealed
the information through the proper authorities or chain of command instead of
taking the documents and bolting out of the country to reveal the information
on his terms and not America’s, he’d be deemed a whistleblower with certain
protection rights granted him through the laws already on the books. Not having to flee the country at all.
The majority of the documents he took had nothing to do with
interests of individual privacy. But
rather pertained to military, defense, and intelligence that weakens America, already
causing tremendous damage to national security through Snowden’s actions.
Snowden lied about events that pushed him over the edge to
break the law. Two weeks after a fiery
email exchange with a superior about computer updates, Snowden started
massively downloading classified information from NSA networks. He exaggerated and fabricated information
thus revealing a pattern of intentional lying:
washing out of basic training for the army due to shin splints and not a
broken leg, never having a high school degree equivalent when he said he did,
or padding his resume and stealing test answers to embellish his entry level
technician duties with senior advisor status at the CIA and NSA. Or pre-dating his Director of National Intelligence
director James Clapper “breaking point” story by 8 months when the discovery of
his massive downloads was official.
All bringing to light that the nation is susceptible to
betrayal from within and more work is needed for our national security.
The U.S. House of Representatives, in bi-partisan effort, and
in addition to the report outlined above, heavily stressed the refusal of
Snowden’s request for pardon from the president in a letter to the White House, for “it would severely
undermine America’s intelligence institutions and core principles, and would
subvert the range of procedures in place to protect whistleblowers.”
While watching the movie, you would think all this that I
just mentioned is a complete fabrication.
A weak effort to cover the backsides of the workers in the government’s
intelligence committees, simply pointing the finger back at Snowden. But we’re led to believe the opposite, that
Snowden’s a hero. Nothing from the
opposing view is presented and no hint of presenting the facts for us to decide
on our own is given. This is the biggest
middle finger an artist can provide its experiencers with this subjective
medium.
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| Shailene Woodley as Lindsay, the girlfriend, civilizing her man and keeping things together. |
Let me be clear this is not a poorly told narrative, it’s just
a heavily skewed one where it’s heavily laced with the charge of “cooking the books” to tell a particular narrative,
much like the presidency of Barack Obama.
So it’s hard to find credit with this film, especially with the looming fact that I disagree with it's lead character portrayal, lurking in the midst. Though it is entertaining I
will say.
As a veteran, and with a history of depicting
political/historical characters on the big screen (JFK, George W. Bush; both
films I didn’t care much for) Oliver Stone, flexes his skill and credibility in
Hollywood to tell a sequential depiction of a “patriotic hero” for audiences to
enjoy and be thrilled early this autumn season.
The movie being a sea of veterans helped with this depiction. Rhys Ifans and Nicholas Cage played their parts
with ease, along with Joseph Gordon-Levitt as our navigator through the “nation’s
mud”. The enemy is all around us which
is why secrecy is security and vital for survival.
I just wish more variety was depicted in Hollywood to help
relay such messages. Which Stone briefly
touched upon when Snowden meets his girlfriend (Shailene Woodley, whom I could
feel her pain and understand her feelings in the matter) and thus she brings
him to see “the light, and the hero recognizes “the truth”, keeping the largest
microphones of America occupied by what they feel should be the only side of
the aisle never to be dropped in a hip-hop manner after dispute.
All hail Edward Snowden, a true American hero (shakes head)!
Snowden
Biography/Thriller, 134 Minutes, R
Based on the Books By: Anatoly Kucherena and Luke Harding
Screenplay By: Kieran Fitzgerald & Oliver Stone
Directed By: Oliver Stone
Cast: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Shailene Woodley, Melissa Leo, Zacharay
Quinto, Scott Eastwood, Tom Wilkinson, with Rhys Ifan, & Nicholas Cage
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