SNOWDEN

(September 2016, U.S.)

Oliver Stone's SNOWDEN has been all over Showtime this past month, so I've managed to catch it at various times for a fresher perspective. However, before writing the post, I felt an overwhelming desire to revisit THE FALCON AND THE SNOWMAN to compare not only the genre of spies and espionage, but also the vast difference in time periods and their respective meanings behind the issues of national security. Whereas the 1983 film that told the story of the very amateurish (and even sloppy) method of selling United States secrets to our Russian enemies in the 1970s by Christopher Boyce and Andrew Daulton Lee across the Mexican border, Edward Snowden's act of alleged betrayal against his country's secret's was wall-planned, calculated and perhaps even diabolical. The entire story of his controversial whistle-blowing actions against the United States National Security Agency (NSA) still seems very fresh in our own American history; for it only just exploded four short years ago. Whether or not you actually sided with what he did or not is your own business. In fact, when interviewed about Snowden, Christopher Boyce himself expressed support for his actions in exposing our government's surveillance programs against its own people. Hardly surprising, I suppose.

Let me begin by saying that Joseph Gordon-Levitt is dead-on as Snowden in every which way, particularly attitude, fears and physical mannerisms. You can easily feel his pain and his levels of stress as he constantly struggles to understand those he's working for in the CIA and NSA, as well as the breaking point he reaches in finally deciding to flee his country and tell his story. His story is a grabber because we can easily follow the tale of a man who simply wanted to serve his country in the military and eventually allowed his life to erode into an uncontrollable situation in which he gradually learned the horrible secrets of the government he served and its ultimate betrayal against its own trusting citizens. Snowden's story can perhaps be most genuinely felt when he's simply in his hotel room in Hong Kong with documentary filmmaker Laura Poitras (played by Melissa Leo) and journalist Glenn Greenwald (played by Zachary Quinto) as they discuss releasing the classified information regarding illegal surveillance that Snowden managed to smuggle out of the country. Fear and paranoia are evident, but so is the drive he is compelled to exercise in doing what he feels is the right thing, even as he sweats it out.

Even Snowden's personal life is compelling to watch. We can only guess that the new relationship with his girlfriend Lindsay Mills (played by Shailene Woodley) will be challenging, at best. She's his total opposite; a liberal democrat who not only questions our government, but also is free spirited enough not to show much concern at the possibility of being watched through her laptop camera, even when she poses naked for photographs and is even sarcastically-flattered by the idea of her "boobs being a matter of national security." Her love and devotion to the man who has repeatedly deceived her and kept her in the dark about their lives and their safety is one that can probably only exist in the movies, though it's very genuine in real life, she having moved to Moscow to be with him after his exile, and where he still resides today.

As a fact-based thriller, any of us who are already familiar with what Snowden did can hardly find ourselves on the edge of seats waiting to see what will happen. However, as he increasingly becomes more and more disillusioned with what he's become a part of, his intentions and his actions slowly culminate to the point where he finally smuggles the incriminating micro SD card and relevant data out of his office building by way of an ordinary Rubik's Cube. I defy any viewer not to take their eyes off of that cube and the almost nonchalant way he walks past security with it, even throwing it to one of the guards to play with it himself (the man IS good!). We know this is the last time Edward Snowden will be seen in his own country, and the camera echoes that sentiment by dissolving into a blurry configuration of a man who was one person once and will become someone entirely new in another location of our world. In fact, I'm reminded of the moment in MIDNIGHT EXPRESS (1978) when Billy Hayes finally walks away from the Turkish prison to his eventual freedom (a film written by Oliver Stone, I might add).

Like JFK (1991), NIXON (1995) or any other political tale in which Oliver Stone has asked us to watch, listen and make up our own minds about what did or did not happen, SNOWDEN takes what we already know to be true or alleged through our own recent media and adds just the perfect blend of drama, tension and questionable soul-searching to help us determine whether we feel Edward Snowden was a national hero or a traitor to his beloved country. For myself, I can only say that if we the people are lied to and betrayed in any way by our own rotten government, even if it's supposedly in the name of our own safety and security, then it's perhaps up to brave men like Snowden to expose the truth. In the end, we are liberated (as is he, I suppose), but it's he who is forced to live a life in exile away from home.

You decide!

Favorite line or dialogue:

Lindsay Mills (to Edward Snowden): "What is it about this fucking job that makes it more important than your life!?"