ARTS & CULTURE
Monday, December 1, 2014 11
A Trio of Film Reviews, Currently in Theatres
Spying, Sports, Showbiz The “Dark Side” of Modern Society
kendall grant › staff writer
Citizenfour (2014) 3/4
Urgent, fascinating, and tastefully designed,
Citizenfour is a primal political fable for the digital age; prosaic in its presentation, profound in its
details, and perturbing in its implications. Alarming
and essential, it’s a tapestry of escalating suspense;
a masterful fusion of journalism and art; a rare,
remarkably intimate look at a crucial historical event
as it happened; a living document of a global scandal
straight from the mouth of the whistleblower.
In June 2013, director Laura Poitras (My Country,
My Country, The Oath) – recipient of the 2012
MacArthur Genius Fellowship and co-recipient of
the 2014 Pulizer Prize for Public Service – became
the first journalist
contacted by former
National Security
Agency
c o ntractor Edward
Snowden. After
a series of encrypted e-mails, Poitras travels with
Guardian reporter Glenn Greenwald to Hong Kong
for the first of many meetings to discuss the strategic release of voluminous evidence of industrial-scale
surveillance that will result in the biggest intelligence leak in history.
As Poitras’ third film, Citizenfour is the culmination of a post-9/11 trilogy that spans a dark horizon
from Iraq to Guantánamo. It’s a wow of a thriller; an
enthralling, thought-provoking tale torn from recent
headlines; and a compelling work of cinema, with all
the paranoid density and abrupt changes of scenery
of a John le Carré novel and a soul that isn’t computer
generated. This is bold, fearless filmmaking, with
more in common with All the President’s Men and
The Conversation than any modern “true narrative.”
Blending the brisk globetrotting of the
Bourne trilogy with the atmospheric effects of a
Japanese horror film, Poitras adapts the cold language of data encryption to recount a dramatic saga
of abuse of power, and demonstrates that information
is a weapon that can cut both ways. It’s likely that
her storytelling will be overshadowed by her opportunity, her craft by her access, and her thoroughly,
unashamedly partisan attitude towards Snowden is
an easy target. But she succeeds brilliantly in evoking
a shadow villain intent on world domination.
Like a 1970s paranoia thriller with real-world
consequences, Citizenfour is a useful primer in the
civil liberties and consent issues that Snowden’s
disclosures raised. It’s a real-time tableau of the
confrontation
between the individual and the
state; a gripping
record of how our
rulers are addicted
to gaining more
and more power and control over us, if we let them.
Dictatorships have always relied on the massive gathering of information in order to control their populations; in this brave new cyber world - a Huxleyan
or Orwellian dystopia – democracies may similarly be crossing the line. Senators lie and congressmen squirm, and nobody is held accountable except
Snowden.
Citizenfour wears many hats: it’s a bombshell
revelation, a character study, a world-girdling espionage thriller, a crucial social document, an oblique
manifesto, an expertly crafted exposé, and a model of
understatement. It may be the most disturbing political documentary since Alex Gibney’s Oscar-winning
“In sports, what Foxcatcher
does is called ‘running
out the clock.’”
ê Fellow citizens: There is little time to plan.
Taxi to the Dark Side. Its very existence makes us feel
the danger of government invasion, yet it stands as
a testament to the fact that while cowering under
the corporate jackboot, we still have the power of
expression, and that’s all we need to get a resistance
off the ground.
If Citizenfour ends abruptly, it’s only because the
real-life story is still far from over. How often do you
watch someone change the world in real time? Big
Brother is back, and he’s gone digital. Anyone with a
phone should see it.
Foxcatcher (2014) 3/4
Glacial, passive, and modulated, Foxcatcher is a sinuous, swirling, smoke-black parable of toxic mentorism; a stunted and fie ɍ