interested in modern history and geopolitics…

blimps to state-sponsored malware is now rapidly being deployed in homeland: US is being torn apart not just by racial issues, but by the ever increasing wealth gap, the scale of which according to a recent study, most American haven't even got a clear understanding of.Privatized industry funded with tax-payer money without the *informed* consent of citizens has turned into legal theft. Snowden was part of that system, but in a unique way; He worked in a position where he saw far beyond the standard compartmentalization. He wasn't Alice developing metadata collection program. He wasn't Bob creating target automation. He wasn't Charlie building drones. He wasn't David confirming kills. He was Edward who saw NSA's SKYNET program, a real tool used to automate drone murders with surveillance metadata.Saying it took guts to blow whistle on corruption within the world's largest intelligence establishment is a complete understatement.While some people like Silas Davis here seem to think no large terrorist attacks must mean mass surveillance, works, The Intercept has done extensive reporting on how not only this is false, but that FBI has had to provide resources on troubled people just to get them arrested.Privacy is a universal human right, but having to hand it away for the sake of security reduces it to a a mere privilege. What makes it even more ridiculous is the transparency in society has completely reversed it's state: Citizens are monitored to the point where gerrymandering strips their only power -- their vote. Meanwhile government the power of which is derived from the governed has secret court, secret laws and secret interpretations of these laws. In such situation "I have nothing to hide" is either badly placed trust or a coping mechanism.The revelations by Snowden were made possible by decades long effort by the cypherpunk community, that has developed encryption tools from Tor-network to PGP-emails to OTR-instant messaging that Poitras, Greenwald and Snowden actually used to empower themselves during 2013. Citizenfour documentary honored these projects during credits.Information security allowed by the law, and achieved with sophisticated technology is extremely important. Terrorism isn't the number one threat, cyber attacks are. The Snowden documents have revealed how NSA has injected back doors into hardware, bribed companies like RSA to use back doored random number generators, and weakened industry standards in an attempt to monitor everything. In reality they've made much easier for all cyber terrorists and foreign governments to hack vital systems that belong to government and companies, and that maintain the critical infrastructure.How well the movie grasps over all this, we'll see soon. The 10 goes just for increasing the awareness. Meanwhile, I suggest the conversation be steered towards the real issues instead of feeding trolls.

Stone's editing choices were sound.Oliver Stone's faithfulness to the facts is astounding. Nothing was distorted or sacrificed for entertainment value. For a filmmaker to show this constraint is rare because it puts at risk the approval of a large portion of the audience. And it shows his true intent, even if Stone claims he was not trying to inspire activism.Snowden Portrayal: Excellent acting, understated; that's Snowden.Greenwald Portrayal: Brilliant acting, and sometimes I got the eerie feeling I was actually watching Greenwald, though the role was perhaps a little too emotional at times when the real Greenwald would have kept his composure. On Laura Poitras actually being in the film: It was justice that Stone actually gave her character a role in the film, since Laura herself never does, and she deserves credit for what she has done. She risked her life many times over to bring us the facts in Citizen Four.Oliver Stone served his country in making this film and by doing justice to the bravery of Snowden. Perhaps the world will be more inclined to care about what is taking place right in front of us once this film is available to all.

and solid character/relationship arcs. You can't ask for much more of a drama based on a true story. Excellent job Oliver. Welcome back! The truth is people don't want to hear it. If it doesn't directly affect their cozy iPhone streaming lives, than they don't want to hear about it. They don't want to hear that they are wage slaves. They don't want to hear that there is no such thing as privacy in this country. They don't want to hear that the government isn't a democracy. People don't want to hear that the American government isn't a government at all, and that it's been replaced by a multi-national fortunate 100 corporate conglomeration funded by the international banking cartel. People don't want to know the truth.I'd venture a guess that most of the people that rated this movie poorly didn't even see the movie. These are the same people that can't handle the truth. Open your eyes people. Don't be another corporate wage slave.

Poitras's Oscar-winning documentary "Citizenfour". Oliver Stone's "Snowden" tells the story, but also looks at the years leading up to Snowden's employment by the NSA: his military service, his stationing in Geneva, and then Japan, and finally his employment with the NSA outlet in Hawaii.I don't know if I would go so far as to call this a masterpiece, but what's mind-blowing is the sheer scope of not just the espionage network, but everything else that it comprised. Without a doubt, the most important scene is the worldwide revelation of Snowden's leaks, and Snowden's subsequent flight to Russia, where he remains to this day.Joseph Gordon-Levitt does a fine job as Snowden, as do Shailene Woodley as his lover Lindsay Mills. The rest of the cast includes Zachary Quinto Spock in the "Star Trek" reboot as Greenwald, Melissa Leo Alice in "The Fighter" as Poitras, and an assortment of other people, including some surprise cast members.All in all, I recommend the movie. Even though the viewer knows the plot, it's still a suspenseful story.

good dramatic acting. Good directing even though Oliver Stone does make it very dark. Snowden wanted to stop government spying on anyone. He would be a much better option for President than either of our current choices. I admit to being an Oliver Stone fan. His movies go into details that our news media ignores. Maybe we should try to get Snowden to come back so we can hear his version of what actually happened.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt. "Divergent" star, Shailene Woodley plays his girlfriend, Lindsay Mills, who stays by his side through his ordeals of working for the government due to his patriotism while at the same time feeling conflicted about how the government runs its methods in the name of national security. This film dramatizes the events that led Snowden to becoming one of the most wanted men in the world.First, I have to give praises to Joseph Gordon-Levitt who I think went above and beyond in not only capturing Edward Snowden's mannerism and the way he speaks but my goodness, Gordon-Levitt's performance in this film is so calculating and precise, you can see his brains constantly work itself out, just by looking at him. And Shailene Woodley gives her most mature performance yet, because this film is more than just about the whole surveillance controversy, it's also about how that negatively affects Snowden & Mills relationship and I think it's fairly handled, both aspects don't take away or diminish each other's importance in the process.When it comes to the film's dramatizing the U.S. and British global surveillance program, I'm sure there'll be questions as to how authentic the portrayal is, as far as the headquarters are concerned, for example, some may see it as a bit too much like a Bond villain's secret lair, but you'll be entertained by some of the visual effects that the film applies to showcase hacking and how one person can connect to another person and to another person and what's most fascinating about it is that there's a programmer watching the whole thing the entire time.So SNOWDEN is essentially part conspiracy thriller, part relationship drama, and to a certain extent, part heist. Overall, I think it's a riveting film that keeps you engaged and more importantly gets you thinking, which I think is the goal of Oliver Stone's movies. Does the film lean one way in that it paints Edward Snowden as a hero? I think so, but not in a way that intentionally judges those who at the end still think of him as a traitor. SNOWDEN might cause audiences to become more paranoid or it might cause audiences to start supporting any effort to hold our government accountable. The jury's still out.-- Rama's Screen --

founders of the United States can be taken away by bullies, perhaps corrupted by limitless power of a new industrialized intelligence complex. Masterful work by Oliver Stone. Thanks for bringing it to Tiff. Oliver, please ask for a theatre more appropriate for Q&A for Snowden 2.0

reference. Wherever you agree with what he did or not this movie is with watching it gives you a first hand perception of what was going on in his head. The whole point of him revealing this info was to let the propel know and decide if it was wrong he believed the people should be fully aware and if they don't like it use the power of the people John Lennon to stop it. The movie is well done without getting too technical or computer terminology and just giving you the information and the story. Yes there is some expanded truth and overdramatazation but it still is a good movie and I recommend seeing it.