MovieChat Forums > Snowden (2016) Discussion > It's worth seeing for the Barack Obama b...

It's worth seeing for the Barack Obama bashing alone

posted 8 years ago by naples-884-346409
2 replies | jump to latest

Since Obama has become POTUS he was always treated like a saint

by the media...they actually made 2 films about his life while

he's still president.

Both are about how great he is.

But "Snowden" shows him as a liar & bigot.

That's something new.

It's an O.K. film with some very good scenes & good performances,

but the screenplay should have had more dramatic power.

Still worth seeing.

[–] metatron1970 8 years ago

I agree with ypu on this. Those of us who might have bought the "Hope and Change" marketing of Obama in 08 have systematically had every illusion about him and the Democratic Party dispelled over the course of the past 8 years. I am assuming Oliver Stone is another who has been astoundingly disappointed with his Administration, and it was refreshing to see this widespread disappointment articulated in the film.
I thought way too much emphasis was given to Snowden's girlfriend, presumably to show he's human. These scenes for me fell flat and contributed little to the story. I was hoping it might have been structured similarly to All the President's Men or even like Stone's own JFK, in which small revelations keep snowballing into larger and more disturbing ones. If I didn't already know what PRISM is, I don't think I would understand it even after the film is over as the film didn't describe it well. I was surprised the film didn't even mention once the similar whistleblower Chelsea/Bradley Manning, who stands as a grim reminder of the fate that lies in store for Snowden should he ever be extradited back to the States to stand trial. I think it's an important film dealing with a very important topic. It's a more focused film than Stone's surprisingly subdued W., which wasn't the scathing critique of the Bush Administration many of us were hoping it would be. It's rather nice to see Stone giving vent to his anger over something everyone should be angry about. Still, I was hoping for something that would have clearly explained the significance of the shocking revelations Snowden revealed.

[–] naples-884-346409 8 years ago

If I didn't already know what PRISM is, I don't think I would understand it even after the film is over as the film didn't describe it well.

The film explains some of the stuff by showing how the NSA people do searches
with key words.
And they tried to visualize how one information leads to another and that they can spy on anyone.

In the sequence with the Pakistani (?) diplomat in Switzerland,
they demonstrated how network analysis is used to map your entire
relationships & use this knowledge to manipulate you.

It's all there, but they show it fast and like it's something everybody
knows about anyway...in a casual way.

I would have liked more of this, too.

But the film succeeded at creating a mood of total surveillance, a feeling of being watched, photographed, controlled all the time by others.
The cinematography was great, especially in the last 30 minutes.

The scenes with O'Brien were pretty good. He was like a cross between Mr. Burns from "The Simpsons" and O'Brien from Orwell's "1984".
The NSA was presented as a modern 'Thought Police'.

I was surprised the film didn't even mention once the similar whistleblower Chelsea/Bradley Manning, who stands as a grim reminder of the fate that lies in store for Snowden should he ever be extradited back to the States to stand trial.

Chelsea Manning could have been mentioned, but it's not really related to Snowden.

They didn't mention Julian Assange either.
This was surprising, because he was the key guy who organized the escape from
Hongkong.
And Assange was responsible for the CIA taking down President Evo Morales' plane. I read that Assange fed them false information that Snowden was on the Morales plane.
But they did show Sarah Harrison at least.

Maybe Stone wants to do a seperate film about WikiLeaks one day ?
Maybe Assange didn't sell any rights to his name etc. ?

Still, I was hoping for something that would have clearly explained the significance of the shocking revelations Snowden revealed.

I think it comes across: 'The modern battlefield is everywhere.'
They show that privacy is in danger.

But what's really subversive about this film is how it clearly shows
Snowden as a hero.

He's celebrated at the end:
"THANK YOU, Edward !"
People cheering.
Moving music.

He's the winner at the end & enjoys his girlfriend in beautiful Moscow 

That's quite funny actually.

It's a total subversion of the usual portrait of traitors, spies, whistleblowers etc, who always end up in miserable places.



I try to see it once more in a theatre.