Snowden: The Government's Worst Nightmare

Do you remember hearing about that guy who leaked all of that important, classified information which exposed the CIA and their tactics to literally spy on all of us?  Well this movie is about that guy and his name is Edward Snowden.  This film is a dramatization based on true events and I have to say, Oliver Stone killed it.  

Edward Snowden joined the military for the same reasons many others have-he wanted to defend the country he loved.  That all came to a halt when he broke his legs and was discharged.  Snowden had other talents though and those talents were evident when he joined the CIA.  Snowden believed he could make a difference in the world and fight for his country through his work and talents in the cyber world.  His supervisors quickly learned how intelligent he was and therefore Snowden was quickly placed in jobs and projects that were very important but also introduced him to knew information that he never realized could be possible.  One example is when he discovered the government had the ability to not only see every text, email, and other methods of communication, but also viewed citizens in realtime through computer cameras.  They indicated this was to keep everyone safe and at first Snowden tried to believe it, but the more in-depth he got with central intelligence, the more wrong it felt until he couldn't do it anymore.  Snowden tried to voice his concerns, but quickly realized that was dangerous territory and things would't change unless he did something big.  

Snowden reached out to a small group of journalists and leaked valuable information which showed how the basic human right to privacy had been secretly confiscated.  Snowden knew how severe the consequences could be, but wanted to do the right thing which to him was letting the public know.  As soon as the media leaked the classified information and Snowden performed an interview explaining in more detail just how much was going on out of the public eye, Snowden then left the country and was able to find a safe place in Russia where he still lives to this day.

I have not done a fact check to see what was true and not true with this movie nor am I going to go into my thoughts on if I think he was right or wrong.  What I can tell you is that this was a fantastic movie.  Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays an excellent Snowden even down to the voice.  There is an awesome part in the end of the movie where the interview starts as Joseph but changes to Snowden himself and this is where you can really see the similarities.  It was a compelling story that portrayed the turmoil one young man went through when he joined a program thinking he was savings lives only to discover he was invading privacy in an attempt to do so.  You feel for him and what it does to his relationships as well as his health.  The inner conflict he has is astounding and was definitely portrayed well in this movie.  I highly recommend seeing it whether you are familiar with the real-life events or not and then go home and put tape over your cameras on your PCs.