Review of The Fifth Estate (2013) by Shiela E — 15 May 2014

I will be honest here. I watched this primarily because I am madly in love with Benedict Cumberbatch. That being said, the movie has a very important story to tell. I am not sure we got it here though. what I mean by that is that it is obvious from the start that the focus is on Daniel Berg. HE is really the main character, and everything is filtered through his viewpoint. whether that viewpoint is all that accurate is debatable since he apparently parted with Julian Assange on quite bad terms.

Overall, the movie is a lot more balanced, though, than might have been expected from such a possibly biased source. Julian comes off as a flawed but revolutionary genius.

My main quibble though is this: the subject matter is highly complex, and if you go into it without much prior knowledge of the real-life events, it is a bit hard to follow at times.

What this film does right: Ben. He BECOMES Julian Assange. It is EERY how good he is. In addition, I felt that the filmmakers really did a good job at exploring what I feel was the main issue here-was Assange irresponsible for publishing all the leaks as is, or should he have edited them to protect any people who could have potentially been harmed? the issue is explored from both sides, and no definite conclusion is reached. fitting though for a man who once said, "If you want to know the truth... no one is going to tell you the truth. They're only going to tell you their version. So, if you want the truth, you have to seek it out for yourself. In fact, that's where the real power lies... in your willingness to look beyond this story. Any story.".