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Oct 24, 2014 By Jennifer Chang Web Exclusive

The NSA global surveillance leak created 2013’s biggest media storm, and Citizenfour takes viewers behind the drama and pundits to the room where director Laura Poitras and journalists Glenn Greenwald and Ewen MacAskill first met whistleblower Edward Snowden. Poitras reconstructs the events through eerily soothing readings of encrypted emails and footage from the Hong Kong hotel room where the four convened and the first articles were released. As the news sent reporters and lawyers swarming to the hotel, the fate of Snowden, Poitras and Greenwald become increasingly uncertain.

Poitras’ presentation of this well-known scandal feels fresh due to its intimate and first-look nature. Unlike a breaking-news frenzy, the atmosphere in the hotel room is somber and nervous as the magnitude of their actions hangs over them. Explanation of the U.S. and U.K. governments’ blanket invasion of privacy and strategic planning of how to release this information are combined with vulnerable discussions about their families’ and loved ones’ safety.

All participants in the film have been subject to targeted surveillance, and their varying levels of paranoia are fascinating to watch. Compared to hysterical “Big Brother is Watching” messages, it is much more unnerving to listen to Snowden calmly explain how a land-line phone can be tapped as long as it’s plugged into an outlet. Certain over-the-top security precautions – the most memorable being Snowden accessing sensitive information while covered under a bright red blanket – loses its humor when Greenwald’s partner is detained at the airport and MacAskill is forced to destroy the classified documents he received. (Both Poitras and Greenwald live outside the U.S. in order to protect their works.)

A few others who speak out against the government’s collection of personal information are given the spotlight, most notably William Binney, a former NSA intelligence officer turned whistleblower. They are not simply united by a shared mistrust, but also a sound belief that one’s ability to protect their privacy is the same as their ability to protect their liberty; there is something to be said for those defending the populace’s personal information, when the people they fight for have largely and jadedly accepted that “privacy is dead.” Whether one believes Snowden is a hero or a traitor, Citizenfour is a worthwhile documentary as its subject affects us all.

www.citizenfourfilm.com

Author rating: 7.5/10