Movie review: Citizenfour brings context to Snowden story

Citizenfour Four stars out of five

Starring: Edward Snowden, Glenn Greenwald, Ewan MacAskill, Jeremy Scahill, Julian Assange

Directed by: Laura Poitras

Running time: 114 minutes

Its probably the most opaque operation ever conducted on a global stage, which is why Laura Poitrass clarity is such an asset: She simply records Edward Snowden as he drops the bomb. Sitting in his Hong Kong hotel room in early June 2013, the documentary filmmaker turns on the camera alongside Guardian reporters Glenn Greenwald and Ewan MacAskill, and lets Snowden tell his story.

At this point, we know what that story is: Big Brother is watching us. The National Security Agency is involved in global surveillance programs that potentially violate privacy laws in the name of national security.

When the story first appeared, it was difficult to really understand the dimensions of these revelations, in part, because we all recognize the vulnerability of wireless communication thanks to tabloids, tampons and Prince Charles.

The idea that U.S. authorities may want to intercept terrorist communiqus with a little illegal eavesdropping seems unforgivably reasonable, given that anyone with a desire and a little know-how can spy on anyone with a wifi device. Yet, in watching Snowden explain the depth and darkness of what he was doing while working for Booz Allen Hamilton, a private contractor with the NSA, we begin to feel the weight of what we are bearing witness to, and the whole story starts to feel uncomfortably personal.

Sitting on the bed with this intelligent, articulate, and moderately goofy computer genius who has been charged on two counts of espionage, the viewer sees the whole Snowden traitor spin start to melt away, and in its place we perceive a young man who felt it was important to take a moral stand. Moreover, from what we can see and hear, he did it entirely without ego and from an emotional perspective, thats the argument Snowden had to win in order to convince the viewer of everything else that follows.

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Movie review: Citizenfour brings context to Snowden story