A friend of mine got married recently, and one day afterward we got to talking about her new surname, and all the bureaucratic rigamarole a name change drags in its wake. It was remarkable to realize just how much of our lives are tied to our government issued IDs in one form or another: Social Security numbers, driver’s licenses, and birth certificates are only the most obvious ones. Try to change some small bit about yourself, and you’ll quickly realize just how much of your life is tied to a database somewhere.
However deep those tentacles reach, they may well seem like small change after watching Citizenfour, director Laura Poitras’ new documentary about ex-NSA contractor Edward Snowden and his leaked revelations about the extent of our government’s surveillance of its own citizens. Today, most everyone knows Snowden’s name and what it stands for, but few have a true sense of the man himself and what might make a successful young guy essentially give up his life—over a year after releasing the documents that would make him a household name, he is still seeking permanent asylum abroad. It’s unlikely he can ever come home again.
It was Snowden who first reached out to Poitras in January of 2013. Knowing the filmmaker had herself been a target of government surveillance—Poitras had previously made a short documentary about NSA whistleblower William Binney, who also appears in the new film—Snowden thought she would be a receptive audience. After making contact under the “citizenfour” name via an encrypted email connection, Snowden invited Poitras and journalist Glenn Greenwald to Hong Kong, where he had flown from Hawaii in order to share his secret knowledge. Once Poitras realized the full impact of Snowden’s revelations, she convinced him of the importance of documenting the process, and a film was born.
The result is a remarkable piece of filmmaking not only because of what it tells us about our government’s reach (or over-reach), but also in what it shows us about the nature of celebrity and news-making in our day and age. When we first meet Snowden, he seems shy and a bit naive, not just about the filmmaking process but also about the wider repercussions his revelations. But before long, he is altering his appearance in order to slip out of hotels unrecognized. In some small way, it’s a great relief to know that our whistleblowers are sometimes so well-known that they’re forced to resort to Bieber-esque tactics to avoid crowds. Let’s hope that their fame will last longer than your common pop star.
Also this week: Whiplash is set to come area screens this Friday. Damien Chazelle’s new film is a semi-autobiographical look at the hothouse atmosphere of a high-flying big band. A drummer in his youth, Chazelle offers a stand-in of sorts in Miles Teller, who portrays ambitious young drummer Andrew Neyman. Discovered by teacher Terence Fletcher (J.K. Simmons) and drafted into the instructor’s band, Neyman finds himself cowed by the violent intensity of the older musician, whose insistence on perfection leads the younger musician toward some questionable choices in his personal life.
And in Shelburne Falls this week, Pothole Pictures brings in the 1989 classic Do The Right Thing. Spike Lee’s breakthrough film was a deep commentary on urban living and race relations, and a film that changed not only how films on similar subjects were made, but also how we looked at and conducted ourselves in an increasingly multicultural world.•
Jack Brown can be reached at cinemadope@gmail.com.
