"Snowden" : Clichéd, Dramatized, and Disappointing
In this age of news cinematization, we seem to be met with film after film concerning real life events. From “13 Hours” to “Sully,” and now “Snowden,” I repeatedly find myself asking this question: Can a director take a recognizable story with an ending that was broadcast all across the world and make it into an interesting film?
The answer this time, unfortunately, is no. Director Oliver Stone’s attempt to turn Edward Snowden, played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, into an American folk hero failed. Instead, the film came across as a highly dramatized documentary.
“Snowden” is one of the slowest films to be released in recent years. Half of the first two hours of the 134-minute movie is spent listening to National Security Agency (NSA) and military analysts delve deep into the world of techno-babble. I understand wanting to keep the film rooted in realism, but the writers took the jargon too far. The other half is spent exploring Edward Snowden’s highly dramatized and even more highly clichéd relationship with Lindsay Mills, played by Shailene Woodley.
I could continue to critique the static atmosphere or the blue color palette that sucked all the life and vitality out of the characters, but I won’t. I’ll move on to what I think may be the worst offense of this film. The writers changed Snowden’s “defining moment.”
In a real life interview with German broadcasting service ARD, Snowden said that his breaking point was “seeing the Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, directly lie on oath to Congress.” That was the point where he decided to become a whistleblower. He leaked that the NSA was collecting files on American citizens because he couldn’t stand to see the director of a security service lie to the American people. While he did witness this event in the film, it did not spur him to begin collecting data. The film cheapened Snowden’s motivations by portraying him holding off on collecting and releasing the data until he found out that his former CIA instructor, Corbin O’Brian, played by Rhys Ifans, was keeping tabs on his girlfriend.
However incorrectly portrayed, once Snowden made the decision to leak data to the press, the movie finally picked up. The atmosphere changed to one that brought me to the edge of my seat. The pace picked up and the extra drama and fiction fell away. The film began to tell a true story. Amid the remarks from prominent figures and certain presidential candidates, the film’s director began to find the real truth behind the Edward Snowden story. The last 20 minutes of the film are redemptive.
But not redemptive enough.
No matter how you feel about Edward Snowden, this film is a fictional and highly dramatized version of a true story that matters. The writers and directors really missed the mark on the most important details, and despite a somewhat mitigating ending, it just doesn’t measure up to what it should be.