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Review:

The Fifth Estate (2013)

Score: 8/10

Director: Bill Condon

Stars: Alicia Vikander, Benedict Cumberbatch, Daniel Brühl, Dan Stevens, David Thewlis.

Synopsis: The story of the hacker named Julian Assange and the creation of WikiLeaks.

Review: An idealistic hacker named Julian Assange ( Benedict Cumberbatch ) recruits a cyber expert named Daniel Berg ( Daniel Brühl ) into a world of secrets and danger using a program called “Rubber Hose”. The idea is that having an endless sea of users will allow the a person to drown in an ocean of anonymity. Together the two start a whistleblower web site called WikiLeaks which challenges the world’s most powerful governments.

I noticed that this role Alicia Vikander plays in as very similar to her role as Gerda in the film The Danish Girl (2015) with Eddie Redmayne, where she supports the man she loves but at a very high price to herself. Her confliction in these kinds of roles brings out the best in her acting abilities. I would have liked to see her a little more in this film but what we got was better than most of her roles.

Not only is Benedict Cumberbatch Dr. Strange the master of the mystic arts, he is also a master of character acting. He truly became a totally deferent person in this film. His linguistic abilities are also amazing. In the Hobbit films, he played the voice of Sauron and spoke the legendary Black Speech of the abyss. Benedict Cumberbatch did such a great job at playing this arrogant and brilliant social engineer Julian Assange.

I really liking the range of acting talent that I’m seeing from Daniel Brühl. From films like Colonia (2015) with Emma Watson and The Face of an Angel (2018) with Kate Beckinsale and Cara Delevingne. Although I think his role as Zemo in Captain America: Civil War (2016) was a little bit subdued and passive.

Dan Stevens role is well done here but it’s nothing compared to his role as David Haller in the FX TV series LEGION. He has so much more depth of character in that show, especially when he plays the alternate reality versions of himself. The film Beauty and the Beast (2017) with Emma Watson, is not worthy of this actor at all. Most of the time his face is covered with CGI. I get that Hollywood wants to make Dan Stevens play dark side characters but it doesn’t always work well.

David Thewlis once again plays the older and wiser mentor like character in this film. His role here is not very different from his role in the film The Mercy (2018) with Rachel Weisz and Colin Firth. Both his characters are reporters but in this film the urgency and danger is very present. He plays one of the characters that act as the moral backbone of this film. He is the line between doxxing someone like a nefarious Blackhat and a reporter who take responsibility for their actions. He understands what the very real consequences are. His character here has more range than the film Regression (2015) with Emma Watson and Ethan Hawke. No matter what, David Thewlis is wonderfully type cast as Lupin the defense against the dark arts teacher of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004).

These hacker films all have something in common, the hacker has the ability of anonymity. While they are hidden, they can affect the world around them like the movie The Italian Job (2003) Job where Seth Green plays a hacker that hacks just about everything around him in the middle of an Airport. When the hacker is compromised, powerful people will come after them in order to restore “their” balance of society like the film Criminal (2016) and Snowden (2016). The film focuses on the “myth” of anonymity. Like the character Julian Assange says in the film “Give a man a mask and he will tell you everything”. Like the film The Whistleblower (2010) with Rachel Weisz, there are serious repercussions in being a whistleblower. Still these people are using a system ran by the same people they are whistle blowing against. In today’s world of information, it would seem that nothing is truly hidden.

Most cyber forensic experts will tell you that after being a part of a arrest warrant for cybercrime, when looking at the desk of the would be hacker, you usually see lots of snacks and drinks next to the computer. The arrested hacker is also usually very pale from lack of sun light. This was more prevalent before the major use of WiFi. Interestingly enough, we see many coffee shops in this film and the headquarters of WikiLeaks is in the mind of the Character Daniel Berg. The characters are more like digital shadows than established cyber experts. They are always moving from one location to the next, wireless communication is paramount, and encryption is their best tool. Honestly that sounds like a crappy life to live, always looking over your shoulder, and in constant information warfare with the powers that be.

The cinematography is excellent. The lighting, wardrobe, and color are perfect for this film. The set dressing and backgrounds are realistic but lacking. Much like the film Body of Lies (2008) these realistic movies don’t always have amazing cinematic backgrounds like the film Hysteria (2011). The set dressing is interesting because it is a reflection of the times. The movie has a very dangerous feel to it, like you never know when someone is going to “blackbag” or kidnap Julian Assange. You never truly know what is real in this film and what is not. Both characters Julian Assange and Daniel Berg are not on the best of terms and have conflicting stories. This is what usually happens in real life which is very similar to the events of the film Zero Dark Thirty (2012) where the government has a different story than SEAL team Six. The movie shows us how the world has changed because of the internet but one must look at how CERN must feel about the perversion of this incredible gift given to us called the World Wide Web. The film is slow and not action packed at all. This film is a little more focused on the characters much like the movie Steve Jobs (2015) with Michael Fassbender or The Social Network (2010). The movie is above average and a good watch.

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