★★★★☆

Some day Benedict Cumberbatch will do a bad job of acting, but I don’t want to see that day. Mr. Cumberbatch does an absolutely astounding job of playing Julian Assange. The supporting actors do their part to help sell this image as well.

One thing I noticed and haven’t really seen anyone comment about is that a site created to expose fraud and corruption was really launched in a sea of fraud. Early in the movie you see David Thewlis’ character typing away in a text only chat window with multiple chat windows open. It seems like he is communicating with the entire inner circle of WikiLeaks. Oh if he only knew!

There are other scenes where Benedict’s character is telling people asking questions that they have “hundreds of volunteers vetting the information.” Then, just before things go sideways in a massive way, it’s revealed that it is just Julian and this guy. He freaks when he finds out he doesn’t have an organization behind him, just some guy with a $20/year domain name.

Mixed Emotions

I do have mixed emotions about WikiLeaks. Despite what all of the governments around the world may believe, we do need some place to point out the mass graves and criminal acts. I have heard many times the mantra that this leak “put assets at risk” but no beef has been offered up with that meal, just the steamy cow pie.

Personally I was shocked that anyone was shocked by the government spying leak of Snowden which made WikiLeaks famous. Seriously? Google monitors more than that and from what I hear Facebook is getting to be a close second when it comes to spying and collecting data on people. I don’t hear any massive populous outcry to shut them down.

The DNC and Hillary email thing was just plain funny. Never put in writing things you don’t want to be made public because in this electronic age there is no such thing as privacy. Google took that away from you years ago and you let them.

Armadillo Shell Hats

Do you remember how movies used to make fun of “weirdos” who used to line their homes/vehicles with tin foil or wear Armadillo shell hats “to block government surveillance?” Heck they even gave a nod to that in WarGames: The Dead Code. You don’t see that in movies much since the Snowden leak. That particular lunatic fringe is now mainstream.

Clandestine units around the globe now have to both fear and utilize WikiLeaks. Turning an asset to obtain information on systems which cannot be hacked is a lengthy high risk process, not to mention expensive. First they actually have to identify someone who could be turned, then begin the process of turning that person. With WikiLeaks they can just sit back and wait for someone to hit their breaking point. Sadly there is no way to predict which country that breaking point will occur in next, so it could be their own.

This brings up the flip side of the WikiLeaks conundrum. Information coming out of clandestine units is typically both tightly controlled and highly filtered. If the higher ups didn’t want a story to reach the President or the media they simply buried the information. Now, those same organizations cannot bury it for long. If those who gathered it truly believe it, most likely it will find its way to WikiLeaks.

Deep Throat

Most newspapers and television news shows long ago gave up on journalism so we are never going to have another “Deep Throat” expose another Watergate. Even The Guardian had to back away from the Snowden story due to pressure. So, from that perspective WikiLeaks provides a great service to the human species.

What I wonder is if the “Weapons of Mass Destruction” story could have been sold in a post WikiLeaks world? Most of the information used to justify that war was known in the intelligence community to be either false of outright fabricated. Would such a war have happen if the field operatives who gathered the information could have shot the story down via WikiLeaks?

Eventually the other shoe will drop. Eventually someone somewhere will cook up the most perfect steaming pile of horse excrement with just enough truth to get splattered all over WikiLeaks, go viral and then cause things to implode. The lack of vetting and, most likely, an ever increasing inability to locate people who could vet information will bite them. WikiLeaks just isn’t a big enough problem right now.

I found this movie worth my time and recommend you rent it. I don’t know if I would choose to watch it a second or third time. Much of the appeal was the slow exposure of the unknown. Once you have seen the film the unknown will mostly be known so some of the magic will be lost.

For more movie rental ideas please see list one and list two.