( Credit: Dogwoof.com/citizenfour )
Citizenfour is an Academy Award winning documentary film from 2014 that documents the initial contact made with journalists from infamous whistleblower Edward Snowden. Snowden, who worked for the National Security Agency as a contractor in IT systems division. During his time at the NSA he gained access to sensitive information regarding the Agencies various mass surveillance programs. Upon deciding that this information needed to be known to the public, Snowden copied millions of classified documents to a thumb drive and escaped to Hong Kong. From here Snowden made contact with documentary film maker Laura Poitras via an encrypted email. Laura travels to Hong Kong to meet with Snowden and brings with her, journalists Glenn Greenwald and Ewen MacAskill to document a series of interviews seeking to understand the information that Snowden was looking to leak to the public.
The film gives a candid and quite thrilling collection of scenes of the interviews and paranoia that surrounds Snowden and the team. From putting their cell phones in the microwave of the hotel room, to hiding under bedsheets to prevent his encryption key from being read. All of this fear stems from the knowledge that Snowden has of the NSA's ability to surveil and track people via their phones and other means. We also witness the initial reactions of all involved as the media begins to report on the leaked documents. The documentary gives an incredible first hand look into the world of journalism at the highest stress level, with real consequences at stake. Say what you will about the ethics of what Edward Snowden did or whether or not you believe he was a traitor to the United States, he did believe what he was doing what was in the best interest of the citizens of the country. To highlight this, I'll leave the reader with a Snowden quote from the film, "We all have a stake in this, this is our country and the balance of power between the citizenry and the government is becoming that of the ruling and the ruled as opposed to actually, you know, the elected and the electorate." You can watch the film for free here on YouTube.
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