I usually shy away from the important qualifier, as I started this website as an homage to film as art, however, Citizenfour is simply too... important. As essential as any of the cinematic masterpieces having come out this year are, this brave and extraordinarily well-made documentary is the one that you absolutely have to watch, as well as spread awareness of it to as many people as possible. Probably the most topical film of the year, Citizenfour encapsulates the must-watch concept.
Citizenfour is a documentary directed by American journalist and film-maker, Laura Poitras, regarding Edward Snowden and his revelations about NSA's illegal, world-wide spying and surveillance activities. The film does not limit itself to only that, providing a wider context for the ever-expanding global surveillance based on Poitras' work on the matter, which earned her the constant harassment of American authorities.
At face-value, Citizenfour is a lot like the dystopias that are so en vogue at the moment, with one key-difference: it's all real. The documentary peels back the sheen of our (mis)conceptions about the freedoms and rights we'd like to think we have, to reveal the current world affairs as they really are: an Orwellian nightmare. Even as I post these words and you read them, our information is most likely recorded and stored in the servers of intelligence agencies that are not even on the same continent. It's not just the IP addresses we are using, but any spec of digital data we've ever touched: bank records, online purchases, the photos in our computers, emails, Skype conversations, everything. Because Big Brother is always watching!
Despite its range-inducing subject matter and the risks the film-makers took, Citizenfour is surprisingly level-headed. It simply presents a state of affairs and leaves the ultimate conclusions to its audience. In turn, it ends up making for an entertaining viewing, as though you are watching a gripping and atmospheric political thriller along the lines of Enemy of the State or The Manchurian Candidate. This is when the experience becomes surreal, because this is not the intelligent script of a gifted script-writer, but reality, one we might not wish to acknowledge, one from which we might wish to protect ourselves by joining in the state chorus branding whistle-blowers as traitors, but one that would not go away, no matter how hard we squeeze our eyes shut to it.
Astonishingly, parts of Citizenfour happen in real time, with the tension ratcheting, as the long arm of American intelligence services reaches for Snowden and very nearly closes around him. There are sequences that seem unbelievable and adrenaline-filled, as though taken straight up from a conspiracy thriller, as the journalists race against time to interview Snowden who strives to give them as much information as possible before the trap closes around him, while the world's sole superpower mobilizes its considerable force to keep one man from telling the truth about what that force entails.
As sleek and perfectly-polished as Citizenfour is, its most striking quality is that it's terrifying, not manifestly so, as its construction is blessedly free of heavy-handiness. The horror comes from its raw honesty and the objective, almost cool outlook of the people making it. There is a matter-of-factualness to it, one devoid of affection and illusions. This is the world we live in and the documentary pulls no punches in showing it to us.
Citizenfour is essential viewing. I am too cynical to believe that anything can be done about the creeping spider of universal surveillance perpetuated by the American intelligence community. Its reach, as shown in painstaking and well-researched detail by the film, seems to encompass all of what we know as the civilized world and even beyond, endowed with a sure-fire ability to pluck anyone who's bothersome and intimidate all those who would attempt to protect them. But for now we can at least know. Past that... .
My assessment: excellent (and masterpiece of the documentary genre; also one of the most courageous cinematic undertaking in recent years)
Film details according to imdb.com (with my congratulations to everyone involved for their courage):
Directed by: Laura Poitras
Cinematography by: Kirsten Johnson, Trevor Paglen, Laura Poitras, Katy Scoggin
Support Citizenfour: https://citizenfourfilm.com/
Citizenfour is a documentary directed by American journalist and film-maker, Laura Poitras, regarding Edward Snowden and his revelations about NSA's illegal, world-wide spying and surveillance activities. The film does not limit itself to only that, providing a wider context for the ever-expanding global surveillance based on Poitras' work on the matter, which earned her the constant harassment of American authorities.
At face-value, Citizenfour is a lot like the dystopias that are so en vogue at the moment, with one key-difference: it's all real. The documentary peels back the sheen of our (mis)conceptions about the freedoms and rights we'd like to think we have, to reveal the current world affairs as they really are: an Orwellian nightmare. Even as I post these words and you read them, our information is most likely recorded and stored in the servers of intelligence agencies that are not even on the same continent. It's not just the IP addresses we are using, but any spec of digital data we've ever touched: bank records, online purchases, the photos in our computers, emails, Skype conversations, everything. Because Big Brother is always watching!
Despite its range-inducing subject matter and the risks the film-makers took, Citizenfour is surprisingly level-headed. It simply presents a state of affairs and leaves the ultimate conclusions to its audience. In turn, it ends up making for an entertaining viewing, as though you are watching a gripping and atmospheric political thriller along the lines of Enemy of the State or The Manchurian Candidate. This is when the experience becomes surreal, because this is not the intelligent script of a gifted script-writer, but reality, one we might not wish to acknowledge, one from which we might wish to protect ourselves by joining in the state chorus branding whistle-blowers as traitors, but one that would not go away, no matter how hard we squeeze our eyes shut to it.
Astonishingly, parts of Citizenfour happen in real time, with the tension ratcheting, as the long arm of American intelligence services reaches for Snowden and very nearly closes around him. There are sequences that seem unbelievable and adrenaline-filled, as though taken straight up from a conspiracy thriller, as the journalists race against time to interview Snowden who strives to give them as much information as possible before the trap closes around him, while the world's sole superpower mobilizes its considerable force to keep one man from telling the truth about what that force entails.
As sleek and perfectly-polished as Citizenfour is, its most striking quality is that it's terrifying, not manifestly so, as its construction is blessedly free of heavy-handiness. The horror comes from its raw honesty and the objective, almost cool outlook of the people making it. There is a matter-of-factualness to it, one devoid of affection and illusions. This is the world we live in and the documentary pulls no punches in showing it to us.
Citizenfour is essential viewing. I am too cynical to believe that anything can be done about the creeping spider of universal surveillance perpetuated by the American intelligence community. Its reach, as shown in painstaking and well-researched detail by the film, seems to encompass all of what we know as the civilized world and even beyond, endowed with a sure-fire ability to pluck anyone who's bothersome and intimidate all those who would attempt to protect them. But for now we can at least know. Past that... .
My assessment: excellent (and masterpiece of the documentary genre; also one of the most courageous cinematic undertaking in recent years)
Film details according to imdb.com (with my congratulations to everyone involved for their courage):
Directed by: Laura Poitras
Cinematography by: Kirsten Johnson, Trevor Paglen, Laura Poitras, Katy Scoggin
Support Citizenfour: https://citizenfourfilm.com/
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