Stars: Benedict Cumberbatch, Daniel Brühl, Carice van
Director: Bill Condon
Based on two different books covering the history of Wikileaks Domscheit-Berg’s book Inside Wikileaks: My Time with Julian Assange and the World’s Most Dangerous Website as well as Wikileaks: Inside Julian Assange’s War on Secrecy by David Leigh and Luke Harding, Comes what some might consider a questionable account of the events and by some I mean Julian Assange.
Assange has gone on record as saying that these are two of the most negative tellings of his story and refused to participate in any way. To be fair Wikileaks became a pop culture phenomenon and just like everything in popular culture, they like to build someone up just to tear them down, which is essentially what “The Fifth Estate” does. From the humble beginnings where Assange (Cumberbatch) lures Berg (Daniel Bruhl) into Wikileaks by misrepresenting the size of the organization, then chronicles the events through the rise and escalation of whistle blowing including leading up to the US cable leaks. We see what starts out as trying to be legitimate journalism and a bastion of breaking news fall way to ego and pride.
I always find it interesting how films involving computer hackers try to convey excitement with fast typing and the glow of the monitor on the face. Yet just like watching someone watch tv it’s just not very exciting to watch someone type away. Even a virtual mind’s eye office to visually represent a real office, feels like an out of place plot device. Where The Fifth Estate shines is providing the back story on Assange on how Wikileaks rose to prominence, it’s a very entertaining history lesson. Bruhl and Cumberbatch command the screen and make material that isn’t overly exciting at the very least entertaining.
What started out as an idea of free information without any form of edits became something that nobody could have anticipated, as the information escalates Assange, Berg and company get put into a spot where releasing information might compromise and put real human lives in jeopardy with Berg falling on one side and Assanges on the other.
In addition to the history lesson we learn that Assange is a very complex person even if the film wraps up before the incidents that have him seeking asylum. They do reward the viewer with a clever interview being played with a briefing of how the events turned out.
Utilizing Berg as a counterbalance to the odd and ambitious Assange the fifth estate manages to entertain while informing. Yet ultimately regardless if the film is factually accurate to Assanges standards, there isnt enough drama in the story. Stopping short of showing the Assange downfall leads to the film stopping short of delivering the complete story. It’s as though the story on a website that prided itself on not editing spent too much time editing itself.
There is more a sense of paranoia than there is of any threat of danger. For the types of secrets that were being released, you are almost feel let down that the most powerful government in the world didn’t try harder to stop the rogue Australian with the white hair
Fascinating, interesting and mildly entertaining
Grade – 78
