The Fifth Estate

From the life of this controversial figure, essentially an action-packed film full of tension and drama was made, where essentially nothing is at stake. The documentary We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks is much more interesting. Unfortunately, not even Benedict Cumberbatch, who is excellent again, saves the day this time. It’s a biopic that tries too hard to be dramatic, but in the end, doesn't even deliver any proper information. It’s too bad because I was kind of interested in this. (11.02.2014)

What’s so bad about this film that it only has a relatively weak 62% rating? Is it because it’s not entirely accurate or doesn’t stick to the truth? Sure, WikiLeaks was all about truth and transparency, while this film takes creative liberties to keep things entertaining and prevent viewers from zoning out. But honestly, Benedict Cumberbatch and Daniel Brühl were fantastic! The filmmakers did a great job of immersing us in this world, even if they jumped from one topic to another without diving too deep. They still gave us enough to grasp what happened and who Julian Assange managed to upset. The film makes it clear that Julian is a self-assured maniac—otherwise, he wouldn’t have achieved what he did. It also highlights the fact that you don’t mess with American diplomacy. The U.S. doesn’t take kindly to any perceived attacks on their state, and they’re willing to go to extreme lengths to retaliate, no matter who’s involved. But that’s a discussion for another time and place. (12.05.2021)

A movie about WikiLeaks? Which one? Oh, that one. That one that is based on two of the worst books...twisted and full of lies, like all bad propaganda. Look, film about Wiki Leaks... It’s more like an "anti-Wiki Leaks" movie. The problem is not what it’s based on, but how crummily it‘s made. The important stuff has no significance (for the plot), but even the minor human dramas are inadequate. Singer’s awful screenplay is episodic, cursory and squashes lots of things together. He often fabricates to enhance the dramatic effect, something that Condon sometimes is able and sometimes is unable (shabby virtual offices) to sell. It turns out to be a story about a weirdo and a traitor who never wanted to find each other nor had anything in common, but just wanted to change the world. Cumberbatch acts really well and gives it all he’s got, but Brühl is annoying to the point of unpleasantness – was that the intention? And that final conversation about the fifth status or whatever seems ridiculous in today’s world. The majority of people aren’t interested, they don’t read. Believe me, I wrote a diploma theses about this. Seriously, how many cablegrams, dispatches or messages have you read? (14.02.2014)