The Fifth Estate Opens Today, 10/18/13.
I was one of the lucky ones to get invited to the media screening this week. In case you’ve been living under a rock, let me give you a little background on the movie.
***The Fifth Estate refers to citizen journalism. “Fifth Estate” is used to describe media outlets (including the blogosphere) that see themselves in opposition to mainstream media (the official press), any class or group in society other than the clergy (First Estate), the nobility (Second Estate), the commoners (Third Estate) and the press (Fourth Estate). It has been used to describe civil society, the poor or the proletariat.***
Triggering our age of high-stakes secrecy, explosive news leaks and the trafficking of classified information, WikiLeaks forever changed the game. Now, in a dramatic thriller based on real events, “The Fifth Estate” reveals the quest to expose the deceptions and corruptions of power that turned an Internet upstart into the 21st century’s most fiercely debated organization. The story begins as WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange (Benedict Cumberbatch) and his colleague Daniel Domscheit-Berg (Daniel Brühl) team up to become underground watchdogs of the privileged and powerful. On a shoestring, they create a platform that allows whistleblowers to anonymously leak covert data, shining a light on the dark recesses of government secrets and corporate crimes. Soon, they are breaking more hard news than the world’s most legendary media organizations combined. But when Assange and Berg gain access to the biggest trove of confidential intelligence documents in U.S. history, they battle each other and a defining question of our time: what are the costs of keeping secrets in a free society—and what are the costs of exposing them?”
A dramatic thriller based on real events, “The Fifth Estate” reveals the quest to expose the deceptions and corruptions of power that turned an Internet upstart into the 21st century’s most fiercely debated organization.
Official Trailer
My Review of The Fifth Estate
The film is based on the life of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange (Benedict Cumberbatch) and is told from the perspective of his colleague, Daniel Domscheit-Berg (Daniel Brühl). Assange is a computer hacker trying to help people share damning company information anonymously.
To be honest, I didn’t follow the WikiLeaks issues when they were on the news. I knew some of the information, but I had no idea of the depth of the political backlash. Being that this is told from Domscheit-Berg’s point of view, we get a lot more information about his life rather than Assange’s. I’m a blogger, but not technically savvy AT ALL, but there was a ton of computer jargon and views of both Assange and Domscheit-Berg typing away on their encrypted laptops.
The movie was okay, but I think it could have been told more in a storytelling way rather than a re-telling of actual events. You’ll see a slew of actual news clips, especially during the scenes with Laura Linney and Stanley Tucci.
It wasn’t my kind of movie, but it still held my interest throughout. It did spark some conversations between my husband and me about The Fifth Estate and what should be shared through the media versus how much is too much.
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THE FIFTH ESTATE OPENS 10/18/13.
