Oliver Stone's Snowden

I finally saw it last night. I watch everything on the net and have been awaiting it for a long time. It has been available since at least September 16.
So, I find it a little embarassing that those that uploasd to the internet took this long for this particular movie LOL. There was one available for awhile with hardcoded Russian overdub and a comment on The Pirate Bay was 'Well, that is just thoughtless'.

It popped up on primewire yesterday. Finally. It is a cam, but in good shape.

First, Joseph Gorden-Levitt should win an Ocsar for his almost creepily, yet understated transformation into Snowden. Zachary Quinto as Genn Greenwald was spot on as well as Melissa Leo as Laura Poitras. Nicolas Cage has a small role where he does fine and gives a nice backstory. Apaprently he did this small role as a favor to Oliver Stone.

I have no idea why the box office was so low, but the distributer did pick an odd date as to not compete with summer blockbusters. It has nade about half of it's budget, but I think it will make it up easily internationally and in PPV/DVD/Bluray sales.

Fun fact: The first time Oliver Stone has shot with digital cameras when it was not a documentary. I am thinking he chose that since it is based on a couple of different documentaries and it looks good this way.

I have seen 2 documentaries and of course followed the news. Put together this way, you see the length and breadth of what the government collects on US citizens, nevermind the rest of the world. Condensed into this package it is even more shocking.

It tells the story of a man who really did love his country and the shock of seeing, over time, what the intelligence agencies were actually doing, caused him so much stress, it caused seizures- even if it brought out a congenital condition.

He gave up everything to tell us all. I give props to Wikileaks, who helped him to get out of Hong Kong. And to Hong Kong who seemed to diss the US in letting him out. And to various news agencies who risked a TON. He planned on going to Ecuador, but the cancellation of his passport by the US stopped his travel short in Moscow.

The film moves quicly, gives us enough of what we want to see without losing its pace.

As I said, I knew a lot of it already, but when you see an example of a program that can look at any email, message, skype call, etc., and in real time- without a warrant- even a rubber stamp warrant from FISA- just a 'reason' tyed into a field- That is when I was the most sickened.

A movie about a clear cut whistleblower..and MORE. He is more than just a whistleblower.

I gave a 10/10 on IMDB. For various reasons.

a reply to: reldra

This is a good interview with Stone on CBC . "Candy talks to iconoclastic American filmmaker Oliver Stone about Snowden — a feature drama about the polarizing case of National Security Agency employee Edward Snowden (played by Joseph Gordon Levitt) and his decision to leaks thousands of classified documents. The director is in town for the Toronto International Film Festival. www.cbc.ca... I have it on my must watch list .

a reply to: the2ofusr1

ty

a reply to: reldra

I saw it in the theater with my brother. We thought it was eye-opening. Solid acting too.

My take away from it is that the government watches us masturbate.

Joseph Gorden-Levitt should win an Ocsar

We should give him one retroactively for his performance in Brick as well.

a reply to: reldra
After reading Jon Rappaport's take on Snowden, it left me with a lot of questions. I'll queue Snowden up and give it a shot. Thanks.