Review of We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks (2013) by Robert H — 16 Nov 2013

This was a very interesting, thorough and balanced look at a very controversial figure in modern times: Julian Assange. I appreciated that the film did not present a romanticized version of his story, instead taking the good with the bad.

The documentary seems to be culled from hundreds of hours of interview footage, much of it featuring Assange himself and for the most part this is riveting to watch. The main centerpiece of the film is series of leaks originating from Chelsea Manning, and it is here that I felt the film was the weakest.

This is mostly because Manning was unavailable to be interviewed, and the only information given from her perspective was from chat logs between herself and Adrian Lamo. I have to admit, watching the text appear onscreen instead of hearing a human voice kind of took me out of those parts of the film.

However, it did provide me with some information I had previously been unaware of, and made me rethink some rather harsh judgments I made after Manning's trial was concluded. Still, I feel what she did was wrong in the sense that it was reckless, wholesale leaking, and also that proper channels were not used to bring some of the more pertinent information to light.

They also spend a good portion of the film talking about Assange's sex crime allegations in Sweden. Again, they do present it in a fairly balanced and objective way, which I applaud the filmmakers for doing.

Overall, this was an engaging, thought-provoking and informative documentary which I recommend wholeheartedly.