Review of The Fifth Estate (2013) by Panta O — 22 Jan 2014

This American-British-Belgian thriller/drama propaganda about the news-leaking website WikiLeaks was directed by Bill Condon. It is NOT A DOCUMENTARY as stated on RT! Stars Benedict Cumberbatch as its editor-in-chief and founder Julian Assange, and Daniel Brühl as its former spokesperson Daniel Domscheit-Berg. Anthony Mackie, David Thewlis, Alicia Vikander, Stanley Tucci, and Laura Linney are featured in supporting roles but they could cast any other actors in their roles and nobody would notice the difference, The non-exciting screenplay was written by Josh Singer based in-part on Domscheit-Berg's book Inside WikiLeaks: My Time with Julian Assange and the World's Most Dangerous Website (2011), as well as WikiLeaks: Inside Julian Assange's War on Secrecy (2011) by British journalists David Leigh and Luke Harding. Assange himself claimed during a presentation of the Sam Adams Award for Integrity in Intelligence-held at Oxford University-that he had read the screenplay of the film, describing it as a "serious propaganda attack on WikiLeaks and the integrity of its staff", as a "lie built upon a lie", and as "fanning the flames for war on Iran": the opening scene was inside a putative military complex in Iran and nuclear symbols could be seen. Of course, I don't think this will be the last effort to discredit Assange on the big or the small screen. The war continues!

The screenplay and direction are the weak points, and maybe the only positive things was the acting of Cumberbatch... but if you think deeper, presenting Assange was so inaccurate that at the end Cumberbatch lool just as a pawn on the board where the queen is invisible! The original reported title was The Man Who Sold the World but with the official press release, it was confirmed that the film's title was actually The Fifth Estate. Though unconfirmed by the studio, it is thought that the title of the film pertains to the alternative media which consists of online journalists and bloggers who present themselves as an alternative to the mainstream press. Smart move from the producer.

It is amazing that DreamWorks nor Disney approached Assange or WikiLeaks for any consultation on the film. Assange elaborated on the matter, "I don't think we are in a situation anymore where an organization like DreamWorks or Disney can succinctly decide that it is going to produce a movie about living people, and living political refugees, and people who are embroiled in a grand jury proceeding in the United States, and just smear, without the cost." Assange even wrote a personal letter to Cumberbatch in which he commended the actor's talent and good intentions, but requested him to reconsider his involvement with the film, which Assange negatively labeled as "a project that vilifies and marginalises a living political refugee to the benefit of an entrenched, corrupt and dangerous state.".

Simply described - boring propaganda!