(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
Hollywood and Oscar icon Oliver Stone rounds the 70 year that 15. September, and thinks yes – there's more to say. The day after the birthday celebration, he launches his own movie Snowden. It is well timed for Norwegian cinemas this autumn. And especially relevant with us – with PEN's freedom of expression award, the Ossietzky award ceremony on November 18 and a possible Nobel Peace Prize to Snowden in the coming months. As is well known, the Nobel Committee is never afraid to criticize the United States since it dared to give "the negro" Martin Luther King the prize in 1964. No – no one needs to fear that a Western opposition will receive the Peace Prize.
Snowden, directed by Oliver Stone
Snowden want more than to draw the picture of Edward Snowden. Stone has drawn the Patriots in the past. But he has also dared to see the United States in the white. His gigantic documentary series The Untold History of the US from 2012 is a document of the critical love he nurtures for his country. Packed with facts, so that a viewer often has to resort to the pause button to get details. The man has radar for the vulnerable and sinister sides of the great power: the JFK assassination, Chávez, Cuba, bloody imperial history, Castro, Hiroshima, alcoholic and racist presidents or fascism in disguise. There is a fact check up, down and in the mind behind his work. This does not mean that he avoids criticism and controversy. But Stone stands upright, as he has done after drug convictions and economic downturns.
Snowdens subtitle is "The most wanted man in the world ». And we are reminded of the Daniel Ellsberg whistleblower, whom Henry Kissinger called "The Most Dangerous Man in America" because he revealed the lies about Vietnam and proven to shorten the war. Power hates truth. All institutions are inherently demonic, says theologian Paul Tillich, because they become more concerned about their own survival than their purposes – that includes states such as churches.
Convincing. Many sub-themes are crossed Snowden. Drone killings, mass surveillance, human rights violations, war crimes, freedom of speech, cowardice of the press, the incompetence of politicians, fascinating and threatening computer programs, the military as a state within the state and the sedative effect of epilepsy on someone who only "must" be awake if he is to do his calling. But Stone must choose his matches. The roles of the New York Times and The Guardian are more complicated, not just heroic as in the movie. The role of WikiLeaks is reduced. The family background is almost not covered. But selection and reduction will always be the filmmaker's biggest challenge and responsibility.
If you're not convinced before, you will be when Oliver Stone finishes you.
No, it's not too much. What is chosen comes together in a meaningful universe where the human Snowden takes shape. "I have come on a trail," he says, "which I cannot leave." The simple children's song. 'This little light of mine. It should shine freely "is the song that sets a simple basic tone. And Peter Gabriel's "Veil" finally removes the mystery surrounding the man. He gets peace when he follows his conscience.
For a full two hours and fourteen minutes, Stone has given himself to drawing the maturation of Snowden. The road from nationalist patriot to number one enemy of the state is plausible, and does not feel long. The "traitor" Snowden who remains the moral role model. And if you're not convinced before, you will be when Oliver Stone finishes you. It is Obama who betrays his ideals and breaks his unique election promises of openness, and who pursues more whistleblowers than all presidents combined before him in US history. What a fall! NSA chief Clapper is lying to Congress (and you can see he's lying where he's in the documentary) without being sued. What an institutional betrayal! Could it have been worse at all with a Republican regime in the White House?
Whether it is Erna Solberg, Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton who describes the Snowden circus, we see at best how ignorant they are. Will they see this movie? Dare they lay down keep a moment and see? Will there soon be more enlightened comments from there than that "it's just to come home to the rule of law USA and make a settlement" or "whistleblowers enjoy great protection under Obama, and have their own whistleblower ombudsman"? Did they realize that John Crane, who was supposed to defend whistleblowers in the administration, immediately lost his job when he started exposing abuse? Watch the news program Democracy Now, or read Mark Hertzgaard's book about John Crane and Thomas Drake. Should not Hillary Clinton have an understanding of privacy, who herself stored tens of thousands of emails illegally (wrecklessly) just to avoid publicity?
I Snowden Stone uses plenty of facts, as always. But here he is not a documentary filmmaker. He's a moviecreates. Calculative and stingy in selection from a huge universe of possible matter – which could easily get lost. Reps. Change of pace, section. Colors. Music. Poitra's story from the dramatic June days of leaking publicity and the flight that ends in Moscow is being phased in by Stone. The drama of the June days is intertwined with the prehistory, which provides depth and understanding of the whistleblower's motives and driving forces. The camera angles are Vintage-Stone and Hollywood at their best. Every section is well thought out, every route seems weighed and chosen. Panoramas such as close-ups, hectic scenes and lingering reflection. We do not notice it – therefore the haircut must have been perfect. The film does not steal from Poitras' Citizenfour, but portrays her work as a film in the film, and builds on her narrative and creates a believable character.
Rubiks Cube. Stone never claims. He's just showing us. He seamlessly merges documentary clips and news cuts. Leaked material is included. The drone killings of children, families and "terrorists" hit us as they hit and turned Snowden into the world's most talked about alerts. Here he stands, and he can do nothing but shout.
Stone creates trembling excitement from reality, without expensive car chases or cheap shooting or fighting scenes. There is enough violence in the reality cuts. Hidden inside a Rubik's cube, Snowden smuggles the chip with copies and abuse documentation out of what must be the world's most monitored room. With the same cube, he is recognized in the hotel lobby by Poitras and Greenvald. Snowden masters the cube, and it becomes a symbol of his life challenge. He makes the difficult loyalty to land and truth go up: "You start with the white cross in the middle," he instructs the man with the scanner machine trying on the cube. And at the crossroads where the drones kill mercilessly, Snowden's ethical crusade rises and becomes the very goal: to dare to stand up for the truth and break with power. Mass surveillance is not about the hunt for terrorists, he eventually understands, but about "control and maintenance of hegemony".
The drone killings of children, families and "terrorists" hit us as they hit and turned Snowden into the world's most talked about alerts. Here he stands, and he can do nothing but shout.
Stone pays tribute to Edward Joseph Snowden. But he wants more. Much more, which could easily have derailed the film's natural course and logic. Snowden's epilepsy, war camaraderie, girlfriend tensions, the world of computer nerds and moving between three continents become necessary details in a living story. Inside, Stone paints a picture of a country that protects criminals and persecutes witnesses to the truth, such as Thomas Drake, Kirk Wiebe and John Kiriakou. They have all visited or will soon visit Norway. This is how the film comes close to us as well. Stone draws a glaring surveillance regime that surpasses the East German Stasi in volume and apparently also efficiency, but which in addition drowns itself in mass data and loses the big picture of sight, and thus also the ability to legitimately hunt for criminals. And who has forgotten that Nuremberg judged them as "just following orders".
Therefore, the film will face a lot of opposition. "I do not like working with the present," Stone told The Guardian during the recent launch. "It costs so much in attorney fees." Only the young company Open Road Films finally dared to make it. But they have already managed to win an Oscar, and have a nose for that. Joseph Gordon-Lewitt and Shailene Woodley show us a credible couple: Edward Snowden and Lindsay Mills. Their faces are not overused celebrities, and they are allowed to grow up as human beings through the more than two hours. Oscar Watch already has them in the binoculars.
Redeemed. Stone is a publicist. He, like Snowden, has sworn allegiance to the constitution and the people, not to power or the president. Stone offers to give the country back its dignity. It requires the sacrifice of whistleblowers like Snowden, who are well aware of this arithmetic. Therefore, it is a redeemed Snowden we say goodbye to. In the middle of life. He just had to do what he did, and who lives reconciled to it. It becomes a main goal of the film to encourage warning and honor the courage to speak out, when important societal values are threatened. And as Edward says to Lindsay: "Because I see no one else who can do it."
Snowden appearing in US theaters in September.
