The start of this film is where we find out the director was stopped at the US border dozens of times since she released a film in 2006.
We find out she was put on a secret watchlist.
In America? Yah.
The soundtrack is FANTASTIC! The soundtrack playing throughout adds to the sinister feeling of it all, how creepy and fucking scary it is. As well it fucking should be. It brings out the mood, the state of mind, everything. Does what a soundtrack is supposed to do. Wonderfully.
The reading aloud of Ed Snowden's letters is a nice touch. It's done in movies to no end, but here's the catch: these are real. The shots of encrypted messages are also a nice touch.
Given what Ed Snowden wrote to Laura Poitras, It hasn't even been 10 years since the leaks, and he's been proven correct time and time again. Whenever there's "a breach in data" wherever that is, I automatically think of Ed's letter, " Whatever you do is in the hands of a system whose reach is unlimited, but safeguards are not."
We then see a zoom in photo of only a part of one of probably hundreds of incident logs on Laura Poitras' "detainment sessions." We see that she was subject to regular searches, and the log records every 10-15 min. She was "flagged," so she's subject to being detained every time she comes back into America.
So Bill Binney, currently working at Veterans Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS) and whistleblower, is at the start of all this program-wise, and we find out from him how this began and what happened to him. As he talks to his audience, he implicates deep state guys under Bush II re: knowing everything that was happening w/ surveillance.
Think of this: when Ed Snowden says," The surveillance here is the highest privilege compared to what the rest of the world faces, which I can prove," I tried to immediately think of anything to prove him right. I immediately thought of Pakistan, where people are literally followed by surveillance drones on a daily.
And we see how the world really fucking works. As deep state guys face Congressional hearings on surveillance, and lie over and over about doing it, we learn one valuable lesson. 'Lie to help the lower classes, the system will crush you. Lie to help the establishment, you will be rewarded handsomely.'
Jacob Applebaum, a very important journalist, talks with the Occupiers, and finds out that their surveillance goes too far, and outlines the concepts of linkability and metadata, key to this documentary and real life.
Finding out from Ed Snowden how a fed can single you out is terrifying. Listening to what he's saying about how this happens, gives you the idea that what the feds have is just as powerful as Google, if not more powerful.
Really break down and listen to what Ed Snowden talks about going over the surveillance programs and blueprints. It's mind blowing and hair raising.
Throughout the Hong Kong sequences, it felt a little too peaceful. I was waiting for something to happen.
And something does. Fire alarms go off for a drill. Seems to be nothing. But there seems to be a collective thought/fear of, "Set up?" I even thought of it.
I admit, I used to not even care about it. Who cares if the feds spy on us? But then I remembered drone strikes in Pakistan: The US military murders people on cell phone data ALONE in fucking drone strikes.
That's when I started to get scared.
Plus, think of it generally. What if you knew your neighbor was watching you? Would you truly not care? What if they knew everything you did, everything you thought, everything you ordered from Amazon, as Snowden said in the beginning? Would you change your behavior? Or do you truly have nothing to hide?
We see Piers Morgan interview Glenn Greenwald. And on that one blue moon, Piers Morgan and I were finally on the same side of an issue.
"You can stop one of us, but there will be seven more of us." Yes. And there are. :-)
And that's when Ed and his human rights lawyer leave the hotel to get to the UN. Cut to a WH press conference shredding Ed Snowden, and the general American feds reaction to the leaks.
I was stunned in real life when this happened. I was thinking," Is Obama really this stupid?" As he paid lip service to us all. But I knew deep down he wasn't. It was the final fucking straw for me.
What's left out is how Sarah Harrison and Julian Assange helped Ed exactly. HOWEVER, Julian Assange does make an appearance here. :-) A shot of Sarah Harrison is flashed over, yahoo!!!!!!
Julian Assange, stuck in London in the Ecuadorian Embassy. Ed Snowden underground and charged with 3 felonies. The Bolivian president's plane was also landed and boarded to find Ed Snowden. All because Ecuador gave him asylum, last I remember. The US gov. was pulling out major stops to find him, to get him. But everyone knew he was in an airport in Moscow, trying to find a place to go. People were following Laura Poitras. I remember worldwide he had massive public support. Except, he was made out to be polarizing in America.
Ed Snowden says that the FBI and CIA had permission to work with unnamed foreign partners for finding him and the people he talks to globally. He says that they've been told to use "appropriate government pressure," to get the media to not publish his leaks.
That's when I felt truly afraid. My immediate thought was," WAIT... what the fuck does that mean???"
The general talking point from the feds was," We promise, just trust us, you'll get full civil rights!" This was when Chelsea Manning was in the brig being tortured. Quite wisely, Snowden never showed up here.
The British feds in London paid The Guardian a visit and got them to destroy the GCHQ archive given to Ewan MacAskill.
As Obama gave his infamous speech with the line," No I don't think Mr. Snowden was a patriot," the score sprinkled throughout the film kicks in, and it's horrifying/disgusting. I think that was when my fear of Obama really set in. And Ed Snowden was only one of few the general public heard about, and there were many more.
Does anyone remember where this line came from? Dick Cheney called Ed Snowden a traitor, and that silenced the real conversation then and there.
Obama's so calm about what was happening at that moment: an international manhunt launched by the American feds to find Ed Snowden. Obama keeps going on and on about the rule of law, when he's just been BUSTED to the HIGHEST order.
Jacob Applebaum speaking makes a great point," What is surveillance except control? We know the myth of the passive surveillance machine is nonsense. They actively attacked people, wherever they were in the world, when perceiving an advantage."
Bill Binney goes to testify at a German NSA inquiry. There's breaking news that the CIA (executive branch) has a double agent spying on the hearing.
Bill Binney talking to Jeremy Scahill in a different sequence says very matter-of-factly," Once they knew who your source was, I'm sure they'd take him off the street." That made my blood run cold.
The final scene is a meeting between Ed, Glenn, and Laura, discussing what ends up being the Ramstein Air Base in Germany story and The Drone Papers in a secure way in person. And last, but certainly not least, is the president's watch list.
THIS DOCUMENTARY ROCKED MY SOCKS!
Stylistically, it was great! Top notch! The cinematography, the presentation, fantastic!!! It keeps you focused on what's happening, keeps you present, without lying to your face, and it's not cliche. I give it $13.50/$13.50 USD.
