Citizenfour

Citizenfour

This film's premiere garnered just about as much controversy as the film itself. At SXSW 2014, Edward Snowden, the center of the documentary, appeared at the film via Skype at had an interview after the film. While some may debate whether Snowden's actions were justified, that is not the purpose of this film. This is about how we couldn't even debate whether the NSA taking metadata on US and world citizens was justified because NSA and other high-ranking officials lied about taking it in the first place. This film is successful because it shows the paranoia experienced by the journalists and Snowden as they discuss how to best handle revealing the stories and scandal. In addition, the film showcases the media's faults. The film contrasts in-your-face style of CNN with the slow, establishing shots of the Hong Kong skyline and the interview scenes in Snowden's hotel room. The most poignant shot in the film is when Snowden is given asylum in Russia and his girlfriend, who he believed could be arrested or implicated in his whistleblowing, joins him and they are seen cooking like a normal couple. Laura Poitras is able to demonstrate the implications of the NSA taking metadata on a global scale without targeting and makes Edward Snowden appear human, despite being portrayed as a traitorous, shady figure by the mainstream media.