by Frank Calvillo
Immediately after the screening for Oliver Stone’s Snowden, I had begun jotting down some initial thoughts about what I had just seen to possibly use later in this review. As I began typing the name Snowden in my phone, I noticed how autocorrect filled in the name almost instantly. It was certainly a telling moment as far as I was concerned. In this day, it may be true that only the real movers and shakers will become so universally known, and that even the Apple world knows who they are. In purely honest terms, it represents just how important Edward Snowden has become and how incredibly monumental his actions were.
Stone’s film opens on documentary filmmaker Laura Poitras (Melissa Leo) and journalist Glenn Greenwald (Zachary Quinto) as they wait in the lobby of a shopping center in China for the arrival of Edward Snowden (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), a former NSA employee who has decided to reveal highly classified and damaging information about the agency, which could cost him everything, including his freedom. Through flashbacks, we see Edward’s early beginnings, his redoubtable skill, his rise to prominence within the agency, his relationship with long-term girlfriend Lindsay (Shailene Woodley), and the deep horror and conflict regarding his uncovering of intense surveillance measures being practiced on everyday Americans.
As to be expected, the strength of Snowden’s story makes for one of the most involving feature films of the year. The way Edward delves into the mechanics of the organization he works for and the men he looks up to (including his main mentor Corbin O’Brian [Rhys Ifans]), slowly revealing the truth about what kind of world he belongs to now, is pulsating from the word go. While Stone makes sure every revelation is met with shock and excitement, he more than ensures that the human element of Edward’s journey is played out as well, including his confused feelings towards his work and especially towards Lindsay.
When the extent of the NSA’s practices is shown in the film, it would have been the perfect moment for Snowden to become a film about conspiracies. And yet, the film never falls into this trap. For the most part, Snowden is not an exercise in conspiracies or even taking a side. Instead, Snowden is a movie whose sole mission is to present honest and proven facts and let the audience decide for themselves how they feel about what was done and the person who brought it to light.
A subject as compelling as Edward Snowden and his journey alone would be enough to make a riveting and dynamic film. However, the framing device used throughout Snowden featuring a secluded Edward in a hotel room retelling the events leading up to the present day proves just as compelling as the central narrative. There are quiet moments of reflection between Edward and Laura in which the former begins to let go of some of the weight from the past. At other times, moments of thrilling suspense, such as Edward’s cloak and dagger existence in the hotel and his eventual escape out of the country, prove entertaining and thrilling enough that not many would have minded had Stone crafted a film simply using these elements.
There’s no question that Stone isn’t the perfect director for Snowden. Yes, the director has garnered a reputation for crafting films about conspiracies and theories which many have taken umbrage with. Yet the director has also been so skilled at making films about figures and individuals who have been mythologized to no end by society, doing away with such notions and delving into their true character. He does the same here to great effect, painting Edward as an invested observer who is perpetually both curious and tormented. While Stone’s recent film output has been spotty at best with his most recent effort, 2012’s Savages registering as merely decent and his last great film being 1999’s Any Given Sunday, the director has once again reinforced his filmmaking prowess and his unmatched voice in the world of cinematic storytelling. Quite simply, this is the right kind of filmmaker and the right kind of subject.
All eyes will be on Gordon-Levitt in what is surely the most high-profile and challenging role of his career so far. However the actor doesn’t seem phased by this and turns in a performance full of complexity and empathy. Gordon-Levitt truly gets inside the mind of his subject and plays him in the most human way he knows how, bringing forth everything from his intricacies to his vulnerabilities. It’s a largely flawless turn from the actor, whose only misstep is the voice with which he chose to play Edward, which is miles apart from the real-life individual. Deep and distracting to the point where it resembles bad foreign film dubbing, the choice almost takes away from Gordon-Levitt’s moving work, but thankfully never succeeds.
The actor is certainly in good company with the group of actors Stone has decided to surround him with. Leo and Quinto shine as the ones frantically scrambling to bring their subject’s story to light, while even smaller turns from the likes of Nicolas Cage as a former agent, Timothy Olyphant as an opportunistic contractor, and Joely Richardson as a newspaper editor, all of whom turn up long enough to do some truly fine work. Elsewhere, Woodley shines as Lindsay, making sure audiences understand the character’s love for Edward, while Ifans turns in the best performance of his career, alternating between mentor and menace to superb effect.
For the most part, Snowden is a pitch perfect experience right up until the final moments when a surprise cameo from the real Edward Snowden is awkwardly inserted. It’s a shame the director felt the need to have the audience hear from him, breaking the compelling and cinematic tone that had been consistent all the way through. This is made even sadder by Stone’s choice to film the real figure in a glowing light with the camera gently panning around him as soft music plays in the background. That final scene aside, Snowden represents the kind of work Stone does best. Not only does the director put a new perspective on such well-known events without ever risking authenticity, but he also manages to get inside the mind of one of the most acclaimed and reviled figures of recent years in a way only a filmmaker like Stone could do.
