Snowden

 

Snowden 2016

• Director: Oliver Stone
• Seen by this director: JFK, The Doors, Born on the Fourth of July, Platoon
• Based on the book by Luke Harding
• Cast: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Shailene Woodley, Melissa Leo, Zachary Quinto, Rhys Ifans, Nicholas Cage, Tom Wilkinson
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Joseph Gordon Levitt - Knives Out, Looper, The Dark Knight Rises, Inception, 500 Days of Summer, Miracle at St Ana, The Lookout, Brick, Third Rock from the Sun, 10 Things I Hate About You
• Shailene Woodley – Big Little Lies, Adrift, The Fault in Our Stars, The Descendents
• Melissa Leo – Prisoners, London Has Fallen, Oblivion, Welcome to the Rileys, Frozen River, Homicide Life on the Street, The Ballad of Little Jo
• Rhys Ifans - Harry Potter, The Boat that Rocked, Human Nature, Elizabeth the Golden Age, Once upon a Time in the Midlands, The Shipping News, The 51^st State, Notting Hill
• Nicholas Cage – The Weather Man, Adaption, Bringing Out the Dead, Face-Off, The Rock, Red Rock West, Wild at Heart, Moonstruck, Raising Arizona, Peggy Sue Gets Married, Rumble Fish, Fast Times at Ridgmont High
• Tom Wilkinson – Selma, The Lone Ranger, Hotel Marigold 1&2, The Conspirator, The Ghost Writer, Valkyria, Batman Begins, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mid, Girl with Pearl Earring, Before You Go, Shakespeare in Love, Wilde, The Full Monty, Smilla’s Sense of Snow, Sense and Sensibility, Prince of Jutland, In the Name of the Father
• Why? The subject.
• Seen: 7 December 2022   

     A true spy story that’s much more interesting than any Bond film. A spy story we’ve followed in the media.  

    As a self-taught computer freak young Edward Snowden (Gordon-Levitt) gets accepted into CIA training. A self-avowed right-wing patriot, Edward falls for photographer Lindsay Mills (Woodley) who demonstrates against US military anti-terrorism actions.

       Edward gets work with the National Security Agency and learns to spy on essential everybody in the world and how to ruin their lives. He learns that the CIA is spying on millions of Americans.

       After years of angst and doubt he resigns and contacts the press, knowing that both he and the journalists are taking great risks of percussions from the CIA and NSA.

       That’s when we started following it in the news.

       Gordon-Levitt is stunningly good as Edward Snowden. 

5* of 5