Personally, I assume that every.single.thing I’ve ever sent, published, written, photographed, or even considered while my computer was on is currently held in some form by the United States government. In fact, and I’m not kidding here, if you have ever been naked in the same room as any device –on or off– that has ever been connected to the internet, you have to assume that a picture of your nude body is currently whiling away on a server buried deep beneath the earth ready to be retrieved at any time by some Homeland Security flunkee.
You hear me, jackoffs? I’m talking to you! I don’t care if you got pics of me; move on and start finding real villains.
I consider this not the price of being American or human, but the price of living in the age of great communication. You want to talk to somebody in Ankara about a Turkish coup going on as it’s going on? You want to be able to research Turkish coups since 1900 in real time as it develops? This is the price. Pictures of you nude on a series of tubes in a forbidden cave.
What’s that?! You want the government to give you privacy?! HAH! Oh, that’s rich. Our current elected officials can’t even agree global warming is a thing, much less a threat … and you want them to figure out you’re not a terrorist? Good luck with that. And with that, I present Snowden, the Oliver Stone biopic about the most notable American traitor of the 21st century. This film’s central question is as old as the United States and arises again and again throughout our history: would you rather have freedom or security? You can’t have both. Personally, it bugs me that those who scream loudest about American freedom tend to care more about security. I’ll repeat: you can’t have both.
Over the course of the nine years between 2004 to 2013, Edward Snowden (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) evolved from special forces washout (weak bones) to the most dangerous man in the country. He went from somebody who would die for the flag to one who betrayed it in favor of the citizens to whom he felt more loyal. I don’t see it quite as Michael Corleone’s transition from deliberate outsider to mob boss; perhaps it’s as simple as Edward “fell in love.” Or perhaps his brain grew a size or two. I like to believe that all folks enlightened to truth naturally move left on the political spectrum, but that’s just a pipe dream; people change politics as often as they change religions, no matter how much they learn.
We know the Edward Snowden story, essentially. Oliver is here to fill in the blanks, add some commentary and show the eerie. Yes, the government has seen you at your most vulnerable. Yes, it has recorded it. It is fair to say Oliver is firmly on Edward’s side. For the first act, Edward is presented as one of us – just a kid who wants to defend his country. He has some flaws; he has some talents; he falls for a girl (Shailene Woodley). Hey, you try not falling for Shailene Woodley, pal. It’s clear about the time he falls for Lindsay (Woodley), however, that both of them are several steps above normal. Ed Snowden has Alan Turing-like computer smarts and Lindsay IDs him as an operative before even catching him in the lie she coaxes. Aw, they’re both demigod-level clever– ain’t that disgusting?
Once scene I wholeheartedly disliked is the serpent-in-Eden introduction of the “innocent” Edward to the hedonistic pleasures of the internal spy game. We view Satan savoring a Muslim woman undressing while her camera doesn’t even register being turned on. Said scene should exist to display the power and implications of what the CIA can do to violate individual liberties, but acts instead as that scene in every Oliver Stone intended to rile an audience. I have no doubt as to what the CIA can do; I strongly object, however, in this case, to why they’re doing it. To follow a suspected terrorist thoroughly, an agent might have to sift through, quite literally, 2.4M individuals – one can see why everyone is a target eventually – but imagining that the oath-bound, lie-detector-screened agents employed solely to protect this country take time out from real spy-work to indulge in voyeuristic jollies on the company dime is simply an exercise in incensing a population. And given the current state of American politics, I see raising the paranoia level in the US populace as treason in and of itself, Oliver Stone.
Snowden is filmed as memory relayed via sequestered hotel room in SE Asia. So we know from the outset Edward is making the moves that will cost him his freedom as a United States’ citizen. That takes balls; you can’t deny that one. Oliver Stone does a great job of illustrating exactly what illegal snooping your government is doing and why it should matter to you. The film doesn’t quite explain why JGL felt the need to speak an octave lower than usual, but no matter. What does matter is while Snowden clearly outlines the case for hero/patriot, it turns the case of traitor into just a mild thriller. I think this tack does a general disservice to the discussion, which is a shame. Oliver
Stone shows top-down guilt regardless of administration (even fans of Obama like myself are not pleased with the continuation of the W surveillance policies); Stone also shows how easily computer-generated spying gets out–of-hand, but he never makes a case that Snowden is actually a big fat traitor. Can’t have everything, now, can you?
I keep wondering why Edward Snowden isn’t married. Whatcha waiting for, pal? Is he displaying the same lack of caution in his personal life as he’s displayed in his professional life? You seriously gotta love a guy/gal to follow him to another country, permanently, without a ring on your finger. Hence, I see this film as more important than entertaining. That’s OK by me; personally, I thought Stone’s important film days were behind him – glad to know he can still invite discussion.
♪I took a picture of you, oh oh oh oh
We hijacked your feed that night
Just a face, and you passed
You won’t last at all, oh oh oh oh
Now we’re checking that flight
Let’s get back to that plane
Oh, terrorist chain game
Hmmm, “circumstantial,” “beyond main control,” oh oh oh oh
The phone, the TV, and bug the apartment
Feed from safe house like pilot from hell, oh oh oh oh
Glazed over our eyes, camera tells no lies
Get us back to that plane
Oh, terrorist chain game♫
Rated R, 134 Minutes
D: Oliver Stone
W: Kieran Fitzgerald & Oliver Stone
Genre: Freedom v. Security
Type of person most likely to enjoy this film: Edward Snowden
Type of person least likely to enjoy this film: Any U.S. Government official
♪ Parody inspired by “Back on the Chain Gang”
