Snowden (2016)
Directed by Oliver Stone
CIA employee Edward Snowden leaks thousands of classified documents to the press.
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In this case, young Edward (Gordon-Levitt replicating the real Snowden’s affectless, robotic voice), distinguishes himself as the star pupil of Corbin O’Brian (Rhys Ifans, shadowy and sinister), a composite CIA figure who shares a similar surname with O’Brien, the Thought Policeman of George Orwell’s “1984.”
And thanks to cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle who gives the proceedings a competent, but overtly obvious visual nod to 1984.
And a great, if slightly over-the-top scene in which - in a direct nod to "1984" - an interrogating O'Brien appears on a huge video screen.
Snowden is an immediate success at his work, receiving encouragement from both company man O’Brian (whose surname recalls the sinister “O’Brien” in George Orwell’s 1984) and the eccentric Hank Forrester (played hammily by Nicholas Cage; the character may be based on William Binney), who has a thing for old code machines and apparently no duties other than dusting them.
That name is probably a wink in the direction of Orwell's 1984, where the main antagonist was O'Brien.
Já mais tarde, quando Snowden conversa com seu mentor, que questiona suas atitudes, Stone retrata o superior (Ifans) como uma presença gigantesca em uma tela que domina a sala, evocando a imagem icônica do Big Brother de 1984 (e tampouco é coincidência que este personagem – fictício – se chame O’Brien, completando a referência ao remeter ao agente da Polícia do Pensamento do livro de Orwell).
This story itself was more journalistically told in Laura Poitras ’ Academy Award-winning documentary “Citizenfour,” a fact that Stone seems to acknowledge, making Poitras a key character and leaving a clear trail for viewers to find her work.
Of course Snowden’s story is by now pretty familiar from news reportage and from Laura Poitras’ Oscar-winning documentary, Citizenfour.
Audiences who are already familiar with Citizenfour , Laura Poitras’s exemplary documentary on the same subject, will be struck by the fact that, in dramatising Snowden’s story, Stone seems to have leached out much of the drama.
What Oliver Stone's muddled biopic does best is remind you to revisit Citizenfour.
Anyone who has watched “Citizenfour,” which earned the Oscar for Best Documentary for 2014, will recognize the meeting that Stone recreates.
It's a perpetual tale of innocence lost: The wounded warrior turning to anti-war activism (Born on the Fourth of July), the inspiring President felled by conspirators in Dallas (JFK), the hungry trader consumed by a rigged financial system (Wall Street).
Like the best Stone films—“Platoon,” “Born on the Fourth of July,” “Wall Street”—“Snowden” is the story of a young idealist who suffers a moral crisis compounded by Oedipal fury against the father figure in whom he has lost faith.
And that’s a problem for this filmmaker, somewhat more comfortable with ‘Nam (Platoon, Born On The Fourth Of July, Heaven & Earth), rock and roll (The Doors), the Kennedy assassination (JFK), serial killers (Natural Born Killers), 9/11 (World Trade Center) and drug-related chainsaw murders (Savages).
Like most Oliver Stone pictures, it’s a parable of disillusionment, with Edward Snowden taking his place along Born On The Fourth Of July’s Ron Kovic and JFK’s Jim Garrison as men who love their country so much they risk everything by speaking out to try and save it from itself.
By tackling the story of Edward Snowden, the conservative, buttoned-up CIA analyst and self-proclaimed patriot who blew the whistle on the U.S. government’s massive surveillance of its own citizens, Stone places himself solidly back in the kind of territory he mined so brilliantly in some of his very best films: JFK, Born on the Fourth of July and Nixon.
It’s a classic political conversion narrative, not unlike Stone’s Born on the Fourth of July and even Wall Street.
Whether you think the real Edward Snowden is a traitor or a patriot, “Snowden” is a terrific film — and director Oliver Stone’s best since “JFK” (1991).
Just know that he has a subject he cares about, a budget to execute his vision and the kinetic scriptwriting matched with narrative momentum that made films such as “Salvador,” “Platoon” and “JFK” so memorable.
It's a perpetual tale of innocence lost: The wounded warrior turning to anti-war activism (Born on the Fourth of July), the inspiring President felled by conspirators in Dallas (JFK), the hungry trader consumed by a rigged financial system (Wall Street).
“Snowden,” which Stone and co-writer Kieran Fitzgerald adapted from two books about the real-life figure, turns out to be a relatively straightforward, sober-minded, even somewhat restrained film, a far more classical and conventional piece of filmmaking than the kaleidoscopic, conspiracy-minded “ JFK ” or the Shakespearean gloom of “ Nixon .”
It’s Oliver Stone’s best film since "JFK."
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Just know that he has a subject he cares about, a budget to execute his vision and the kinetic scriptwriting matched with narrative momentum that made films such as “Salvador,” “Platoon” and “JFK” so memorable.
He told it directly in the semi-autobiographical Platoon, the first in a trilogy about the Vietnam War, but it's always been the filter through which he views America, where the official story is never the true one.
Like the best Stone films—“Platoon,” “Born on the Fourth of July,” “Wall Street”—“Snowden” is the story of a young idealist who suffers a moral crisis compounded by Oedipal fury against the father figure in whom he has lost faith.
From Salvador and Wall Street to Platoon and JFK, his movies are deeply political affairs that set forth a charged ideological agenda in hope of influencing the public debate.
And that’s a problem for this filmmaker, somewhat more comfortable with ‘Nam (Platoon, Born On The Fourth Of July, Heaven & Earth), rock and roll (The Doors), the Kennedy assassination (JFK), serial killers (Natural Born Killers), 9/11 (World Trade Center) and drug-related chainsaw murders (Savages).
While it’s well acted and the director puts several welcome thriller touches on the inherently dull computer world, Snowden (** out of four; rated R; in theaters Friday) just doesn’t have the signature chutzpah or engrossing nature that Stone’s infused in his more high-profile and controversial projects (Platoon, JFK, Natural Born Killers).
He signs up to the CIA and excels at the tests he’s given, proving himself so capable that he becomes a lynchpin for the intelligence team, a sequence that feels like Stone trying to force a parallel between Snowden and Alan Turing – or at least Benedict Cumberbatch’s portrayal of Turing in The Imitation Game .
Gordon-Levitt’s Snowden is more like Alan Turing, the brilliant but socially inept Second World War computer pioneer portrayed in The Imitation Game.
Here, instead, Snowden (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) recalls CIA-training—clichéd spy-mentor moments and computer prodigy scenes, playing like The Imitation Game updated to the ’00s, ensue.
He ends up joining the CIA -- under the tutelage of an instructor (Rhys Ifans) and supervisor (Nic Cage) -- and much like Benedict Cumberbatch's Alan Turing did in "The Imitation Game" proves his intellect and problem solving are unparalleled.
He was a high school dropout who fancied Star Wars, Joseph Campbell and Ayn Rand.
Hammy supporting performances abound (Rhys Ifans, Nicolas Cage, Timothy Olyphant), along with puzzling visual choices that venture close to self-parody on Stone’s part (trippy depictions of Snowden’s epilepsy), with some hilariously on-the-nose political discourse lobbed in for good measure (a college-aged Snowden lists his big inspirations as “Star Wars” and Ayn Rand).
Much like “Flags of Our Fathers,” director Clint Eastwood is back to compare our conceptions of heroism with time and additional illuminating facts.
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(His words are simply another iteration of the “you can’t handle the truth” speech from A Few Good Men.)
Not surprisingly (considering his track record), Stone goes for the latter portrayal, and maybe that's why he never offers up a powerful counterpoint moment as occurred with Jack Nicholson's "you can't handle the truth" speech from "A Few Good Men."
At times Stone hurts his own cause, whether it’s a scene where Snowden’s beloved mentor O’Brian appears on a giant screen during a Facetime call, a la Big Brother, or the irritating score that swells up as if Snowden is Roy Hobbs in “The Natural,” swinging for the fences because he loves his country, gosh dang it.