Susan Granger’s review of “Snowden” (Open Road)
Timed to coincide with the release of Oliver Stone’s new docudrama, the American Civil Liberties Union and Amnesty International launched an initiative to get him a Presidential Pardon from Barack Obama.
So is whistleblower Edward Snowden a 21st century hero or traitor?
Director Stone (“The Walk,” “World Trade Center”) believes that knowing the backstory of the contractor who leaked classified documents about the National Security Agency’s enormous invasions of privacy will influence your opinion.
If you’ve seen Laura Poitras’ incisive, Oscar-winning documentary “Citizenfour,” you’re familiar with much of Snowden’s tale. Stone’s begins in 2013, when Snowden (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) meets with Poitras (Melissa Leo) and journalists Glenn Greenwald (Zachary Quinto) and Ewan MacAskill (Tom Wilkinson) in a Hong Kong hotel room.
Geeky Snowden presents them with guarded information he’d smuggled out of his NSA office in Hawaii that documented the government’s massive surveillance program, encompassing not only American citizens but overseas contacts.
Working with screenwriter Kiernan Fitzgerald from books by Luke Harding and Anatoly Kucherena, Oliver Stone utilizes flashbacks to show how idealistic Snowden, who came from a military family, enlisted in Special Forces training and was discharged after suffering broken legs.
Patriotic, he went into Intelligence work, displaying such remarkable skill as a computer analyst to his CIA boss, Corbin O’Brian (Rhys Ifans), that he got increasingly higher NCA security clearances – which led to Snowden’s disillusioned, almost-messianic determination for disclosure.
In order to humanize Snowden, Stone shows how he solves a Rubik’s cube one-handed and dwells on his strained relationship with his liberal girlfriend, photographer Lindsay Mills (Shailene Woodley).
In the epilogue, the real Edward Snowden, now in exile in Moscow, states: “When I left Hawaii, I lost everything. I had a stable life, stable love, family, future. I lost that life but I’ve gained a new one, and I am incredibly fortunate. And I think the greatest freedom I’ve gained is that I no longer have to worry about what happens tomorrow, because I’m happy with what I’ve done today.”
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Snowden” is a slick, sycophantic 6, glossing over the U.S. government’s deplorable actions and the unintended consequences of Snowden’s disclosures.
