Snowden

Snowden

Starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Shailene Woodley, Melissa Leo, Zachary Quinto

Directed by Oliver Stone

The Story:
Edward Snowden (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is a man who's seen as either one of America's greatest heroes, or one of America's greatest traitors.  As a young computer genius, Snowden gained high-profile jobs at the CIA and the NSA, where he discovered that the government was spying on average American citizens, and decided he couldn't be silent about it and leaked the information to The Guardian newspaper, resulting in his self-imposed exile from the U.S. and being separated from the love of his life, Lindsay (Shailene Woodley).

The Synopsis:
Oliver Stone has been one of the most prolific and controversial directors of our time.  From great classics like "JFK," "Born on the Fourth of July" and "The Doors," Stone has shown a passion for directing bio-pictures of controversial historical events and people.  Lately, his directing abilities have been lackluster at best - from the abysmal "Savages" and "Alexander" to the just-alright "W.," it seemed that Stone might be losing his touch.  With "Snowden," Oliver Stone comes back to form, directing his best film since 1999's "Any Given Sunday," delivering what could've been an incredibly boring story and turning it into a thrilling espionage thriller, while still maintaining a strong semblance of truth.

I use the word "semblance" because no true bio-picture is 100% the truth, as directors often infuse their own political, social or ideological ideals into the picture, which Stone clearly does here, as he portrays Snowden as nothing more than the utmost American patriot who does what he does solely for the benefit of the American public and no other reason.  Could it be that was Snowden's only intent, and he only meant to do good?  Maybe, but doubtful.

What Stone does to keep the story interesting is not producing it in a "linear" fashion.  Instead of having a distinct beginning, middle, and end, he uses flashbacks to scatter the story and keep your mind fresh of what is happening and when, which helped draw me into the movie more than if it was just a simple tale.  The film is split into three distinct sections:
-The present, where Snowden is being holed up in a Hong Kong apartment, talking with the reporters from The Guardian
-The past, where Snowden is discharged from the special forces, enlists to work for the CIA and eventually the NSA, being sent all over the world to do work in the real terrorist spot: the Internet, to locate possible terrorists
-The past, where Snowden and Lindsay's relationship is fully explored, showing the more personal side of his story

Besides the thrilling non-linear tale, what made "Snowden" such a joy to watch was the lead actor, the often underrated Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who fully encompassed Edward Snowden and became the man, right down to his voice and mannerisms.  He delivered the role of his career here, and if he doesn't earn any nominations come awards season, I will be truly shocked.  He commanded the screen and you couldn't help but follow his every lead, and simmer on his every word. 

Not only did Joseph Gordon-Levitt give a commanding performance, but the several supporting actors and actresses also owned their roles, no matter how small they were.  Zachary Quinto, Melissa Leo, Tom Wilkinson, Scott Eastwood, Logan Marshall-Green, Timothy Olyphant, Rhys Ifans, Joely Richardson and Nicolas Cage all gave terrific performances.  The only smudge on the screen came from Shailene Woodley as Snowden's longtime girlfriend Lindsay.  She plays the role like any generic girlfriend would - by always being right, being angry at Edward for not telling her everything (she knew what she was getting into when her boyfriend works in the NSA), and pretty much constantly belittling him at every turn.  Plus, her performance wasn't that spectacular.  To me, she's a lesser version of Jennifer Lawrence.  Let's take a little time to compare:

Independent Movie Darling: Jennifer Lawrence in "Winter's Bone" vs. Shailene Woodley in "White Bird in a Blizzard."  The results: JLaw earning an Oscar nomination, and Woodley earning...JLaw 1, Woodley 0

Action Heroine From YA Book Series: Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen in the "Hunger Games" series vs. Shailene Woodley as Tris in the "Divergent" series.  The results: "Hunger Games" earning almost $3 billion dollars worldwide, while "Divergent" made under $750 million, and word is out that the final "Divergent" movie could be a made-for-TV affair.  JLaw 2, Woodley 0.

Oscar-Bait Pictures: Jennifer Lawrence in "Silver Linings Playbook" vs. Shailene Woodley in "Snowden."  The results: JLaw earning an Oscar win for Best Actress, while the best Woodley can hope for is a Best Supporting Actress nod.  JLaw 3, Woodley 0.

And we have a knockout.

Back to "Snowden."  As I said, I was pleasantly surprised it kept my attention so well.  I didn't think I'd find it as enthralling as it was, and that was a very pleasant surprise.  This was one of the films I was eager to see this fall, and I was not disappointed.  The film even had a personal impact on me, knowing that the true-life story was actually real - the government spying on the general American public by reading private emails, chats, social media and even viewing people through their webcams poses a very important question that's not easily answered: how far will you go to feel safe?

When Edward was telling Lindsay about how the government was watching them through their webcam, Lindsay replies with, "I don't care, I don't have anything to hide."  It doesn't matter if you have something to hide or not, I don't feel comfortable with my personal world being invaded, even though privacy is scarce nowadays with everything we share on social media.  It's a vicious double-edged sword, we want our privacy but we're more than willing to put ourselves out there for all the world to see and judge.  The reasoning behind the surveillance is for our own protection: by following a possible terrorist, they have to follow everyone they've been in contact with, and everyone those contacts were in contact with, and so on.  Is it worth giving up our privacy for security?  Stone seems to answer that with a resounding "NO."

The Summary:
After a few duds to his record, Oliver Stone returns full-force with this unflinching true-life tale of a man who is still labeled either a hero or traitor depending on who you talk to.

The Score: A