The EnterTeenment Cineplex
The Fifth Estate
Release Date: October 18
DreamWorks Pictures
Starring: Benedict Cumberbatch, Daniel Brühl, Anthony Mackie, David Thewlis, Alicia Vikander, Peter Capaldi, Carice van Houten, Dan Stevens, with Stanley Tucci and Laura Linney
Directed by: Bill Condon
*Note - This film is Rated R for some violence and language. It is only recommended for our visitors that are 18 years of age or older!
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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 Bruhl) 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.
See the Trailer Here:
Our Review
"The Fifth Estate" Is A Thought-Provoking Look At A Debatable Topic
by Derek J. Samms
If you speak to any two people who have followed the news in the last half decade, you will likely hear two different opinions on WikiLeaks, the website established by Julian Assange and Daniel Domscheit-Berg as a venue for whistleblowers who want to remain anonymous. After the site's rise to prominence and the controversy surrounding the release of hundreds of thousands of classified document, a film was inevitable. The Fifth Estate*, directed by Bill Condon (Twilight: Breaking Dawn), seeks to portray that drama in a captivating way while remaining as neutral as possible on the politics.
The film begins with a brief visual history of recorded media, from ancient stone engravings through the advent of the printing press to modern news stories on television and computer screens. After this sequence brings us to the fallout following the 2010 release of the Afghanistan war logs, the event that truly brought WikiLeaks into the public eye and under public scrutiny, we are taken back to 2006 when the site was first launched. There we meet Assange, played by Benedict Cumberbatch (The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, Star Trek: Into Darkness, BBC's Sherlock), and then cohort Berg (Daniel Bruhl, Rush, Inglorious Basterds), two independent citizen-journalists whose relationship carries much of the drama in the film. U.S. government employees played by Laura Linney (The Big C), Stanley Tucci (The Hunger Games), and Anthony Mackie (The Hurt Locker) demonstrate the experience of those who had to face the diplomatic and security effects of the leaks. At the same time, we witness the perspective of the Guardian reporters and editors trying to chase the story and balance journalistic integrity with the challenges created by this new type of information source.
See a Clip From The Film Here:
All the characters help to voice the varying opinions surrounding the subject matter while still feeling very human. That is little surprise given the caliber of the cast, many of which have been nominated for multiple Academy Awards in the past. Cumberbatch is as brilliant as ever, playing Assange as scarred, lonely man who is at once idealistic and manipulative, both narcissistic and pitiable, whose message we want to believe in but whose unscrupulous nature puts us on edge. Bruhl, meanwhile, serves as a stand-in for the audience (which makes sense, given that his character wrote one of the books the film is based on). He is easy to connect with and to root for, despite the mistakes the character makes along the way. Linney and Tucci provide believable chemistry and make otherwise faceless diplomats real and relatable. David Thewlis (War Horse, the Harry Potter series) and Peter Capaldi (World War Z, soon-to-be Doctor Who) round out the cast as the editors of the Guardian, allowing us to feel the pressures of those in the news media facing the changing times.
While this layering of viewpoints may sound like a bit of a hodgepodge, screenwriter Josh Singer (Fringe, The West Wing) intertwines them deftly. We follow the central story of Assange and Berg and witness how they become catalysts for events whose effects are felt at diverse levels. Other elements that could have been confusing, such as Assange's explanation to Berg of his method for keeping submissions anonymous, are made visual. Occasional cutaways to a vast room full of desks help to convey the nature of the website and its functions, as well as Berg's perspective of Assange and his work. Singer faced a difficult task in adapting a story that is still unfolding in reality, but the result is a film that speaks clearly without failing to convey the complexity of its events and issues.
See another clip here:
Condon and Singer were both aware of that complexity at the outset of this project. In the film, the characters face numerous moral dilemmas as events unfold and new leaks create fresh dangers for them and others. And since the results of these events are still taking place, we may never be aware of all of their repercussions. That makes creating a film especially challenging. As Condon said, they did not seek to provide definitive answers or speak for one side or another on the issues: "Instead, we set out to create a drama that explores the challenges of transparency and that, we hope, enlivens and enriches the conversation WikiLeaks has provoked." With a subject like this and the load of information it contains, there is little doubt whether this film will add to the discussion.
Of course, The Fifth Estate is not a documentary. The filmmakers admit that they changed certain events and combined some secondary characters for the sake of storytelling. Many viewers may come away from the film wondering about its accuracy or about what kind of man Assange really is, and that sounds like what Condon intended. After watching this movie, it's hard not to start reviewing news reports from the last six years. And for those who leave the theater and immediately start googling, the Assange of the film delivers what is arguably its central theme (via Cumberbatch speaking directly to the camera): The truth is in your hands; YOU have to seek it out.
The Fifth Estate is a well-crafted film that will get you thinking. It's no feel-good popcorn film, but it won't leave you feeling like you've been kicked in the gut either. Most likely, you'll walk away trying to figure out just where you stand, but maybe feeling a little better equipped for that than before.
*If you're wondering about the title, historians have often used "the three estates" to refer to the divisions of society in place starting around medieval times. The idea of a fourth estate was added later, and the fifth is a new concept. Here's the explanation from the filmmakers:
The First Estate - Clergy/Government
The Second Estate - Nobility/Wealthy Elite
The Third Estate - Commoners/Workers
The Fourth Estate - Press/Media
The Fifth Estate - Those who aim to keep the other estates in check, recently defined as whistleblowers, watchdogs, citizen journalists... and WikiLeaks