Review of Citizenfour (2014) by Harrison R — 28 Sep 2015

The documentary format is meant to provide an outlet for exactly the kind of vital information that Citizenfour expertly communicates, information that essentially confirms what had long been suspected of the US government and their extensive networks devoted entirely to compiling every single aspect of every second of your daily life. If there were not concrete evidence to corroborate the claims made in the film, it would all sound like a conspiracy theory you'd find on some fringe blog in the darkest corner of the internet, and yet these kinds of outlandish, sci-fi-esque assertions are undeniable given what's been made public in light of Snowden's work.

The 9/11 attacks gave the US government free-reign over what has traditionally considered to be the purview of the average American, using "national security" as an all-encompassing excuse to illegally acquire privileged information without the consent of those involved through information linkages, essentially allowing them to track everything any citizen does at any given time. This is important in regards to the self-policing that average citizens take part in now in response to their constant fear of governmental oversight, but it's also absolutely vital in the way that it could prevent people from organizing against these kinds of injustices in the future entirely given their lack of privacy. The government could prevent any kind of documentary like this from being made in the future by listening in on any whistleblower in any country and slapping them with a lawsuit.

It's also important to note that Snowden isn't the scheming, evil figure looking to take down the government that US officials made him out to be; he comes off as a regular guy who saw something and said something, like any patriot would.

The film itself take on the style of a political thriller, and its elegant, timely presentation only serves to further the accessibility of a work who's information has and will continue to alter the ways in which we address our own government. To say that the film itself is anything less than an essential, landmark piece of documentary filmmaking would be to shortchange its undeniable significance.