Citizenfour

             I got the privilege to the west coast primer of Citzenfour as a part of the October Film Independent LACMA series. Citizenfour is a documentary on Edward Snowden, one of the biggest leakers and whistleblowers in history. Laura Poitras was also joined at the end of the screening for a conversation about the film. 

"In January 2013, filmmaker Laura Poitras was in the process of constructing a film about absuses of national security in post 9/11 American when she started receiving encrypted e-mails from someone identifying himself as "citizen four," who was ready to blow the whistle on the massive covert surveillance programs run by the NSA and other intelligence agencies. In June 2013, she sand reporter Glen Greenwald flew to Hong Kong for the first time of many meetings with the man who turned out to be Edward Snowden. She brought her camera with her. Poitras is a great and brave filmmaker, but she is also a masterful storyteller: she compresses the many days of questioning, waiting, confirming, watching the world's reaction and agonizing over the next move, into both a great character study of Snowden and a narrative that will leave you on the edge of your seat." 
by Film Society Lincoln Center 

(L-R) Laura Poitras, Edward Snowden, Glen Greenwald

Snowden contacted Glen Greenwald, a journalist from the Guardian, but Greenwald wasn't tech savvy enough to understand the encrypted e-mails. He than later contacted Laura Poitras and was the start of this journey. I remember when this story broke. There was chaos and all the breaking news was about this leak. The leak that came after wikileaks, but is by far the most shocking. Everyone wanted to know who the man behind the leaks were. After he was exposed as Edward Snowden, he was perceived as a detached person. For some reason, the way he was seen through the media made him look like he didn't care and he just wanted to say "fuck you" to the American government. That was what I saw in him. There were many different rumors circulating at that time. Because he was asking for political asylum in Russia, many called him a Russian spy. Not much was really known about him.

Then I saw this documentary, and it changed the way I saw the situation, of Edward Snowden, and of how this one leak could change a point in time. After Poitras and Greenwald met with Snowden in Hong Kong, the conversation and characteristics of Snowden was something you can catch right away. He knew so much of the NSA that he was literally conscious of everything electronic. He would put a blanket over his computer and head so no one can see him type his password into the computer. His passwords had to be super-duper long. He took out the phone lines because apparently phones could also have separate recording devices in them. Snowden's most important conversation with the journalists were about getting these NSA documents published. He called them over, not for support, but for a second opinion. Snowden realizes if he just leaks all of the documents, it will potentially cause danger than helping. He wanted to get the journalist's point of view and see which documents were right to be released to the public. 

He asked us to imagine if the search engines we search are on file, the conversations we have with our friends or family, the text messages, our photos, credit cards, e-mails and everything is on file. Snowden says if everything is recorded, it limits the boundaries of what is searched. That is taking away privacy and limits our freedom. Both Laura and Glen asked Snowden many many times if he's willing to take the next step. With such a big leak as this, it will change his whole life. Snowden was sure he wanted to take the next step. As journalists, they wanted to know who Edward Snowden was. Who is he? What made him make such a drastic decision? He then declined to share any information about himself to the media because he didn't want to make the story about himself.. he wanted to make about the documents. The documents were the priority. Like I mentioned before, he wasn't presented as someone who was so compassionate about telling the truth. But in this documentary you could feel he's human. He wanted to protect his family so he didn't tell anyone before leaving. He wanted to protect his family so much that he was ready to leave them and didn't want to continue a possible relationship because of how dangerous it could be for them. Also, there's a part in the documentary where you see him talking to his girlfriend. That is one of the parts where you see his  human side. He's eating less because he's worried. This documentary takes you through a series of roller coaster rides and let's you see the back-door kind of story. It's a real-life-true-story thriller. You think you know what happens in the end, as Snowden gets political asylum in Russia, but there is a crazy twist at the end where you will be waiting to see more. 

Conversation with Laura Poitras 

After the screening, Laura Poitras and moderator Elvis Mitchell had a discussion about all of works and how this movie was produced. Poitras says it was her decision to try and be the third-person in the room. As she was also part of the story and filming it, she did not want it to conflict in the story or the way she portrayed it. She said there was that fear of the NSA just knocking their hotel door down. She had a lot of reaction shots because they would be able to tell a lot of the story. The documentary is filmed more like a home-made real life situation kind of film. You could see the blurry zooms in and out. But that captured more of the moment. It was as if we were actually in the room with them...watching them. 

Poitras has made several different documentaries based on political themes. However, Poitras mentioned she does not see them has political films, but as "human films". She sees these as human interactions through political realms, which she says is a presence that is always there. Political presence shapes all and everything. Poitras says this film wasn't just about the NSA, but also about the courage people have. The immense will of people to do what they believe is right and what they believe in. Snowden has risked his job, family, friends, home, and much more to help billions of people he doesn't know. 


As you know, a lot of the documents that weren't published apparently have ALOT more information that we don't know about. I don't know what's worse... to know theres corruption in the government like China/Russia and own it, or if people don't know or acknowledge there is corruption in the American government and they do it behind hidden doors. 

Images Courtesy of Wireimage & Film Independent