Benedict Cumberbatch True Crime Biopic Becomes More Relevant Today
In light of the recent news that Julian Assange (traitor to some, hero to others) has recently reached a plea deal with the United States government and is finally returning home, it might be a good idea to check out The Fifth Estate with Benedict Cumberbatch as Assange.
The End Of The Wikileaks Saga
If you’ve been interested in learning more about the information wars of the last two decades, there has been a significant shift recently as Julian Assange has been released from prison and is returning home to live with his wife and children. After 14 years in exile, five of which included time in a UK prison, Assange gets to return to Australia. The Fifth Estate, a biopic about his life and the Wikleaks drama, is more pressing now than ever.
The Film Does Not Match The Scandal
Look, The Fifth Estate is slow-moving, bogged down in data and minutiae, and could have been much more exciting, but it’s what we’ve got in terms of creative nonfiction concerning this mysterious figure. The Wikileaks scandal took the world by storm and forced the American people to contend with what they thought and how they felt about their military.
After all, the biggest revelation Wikileaks brought us was the War Logs —- footage of American soldiers shooting Iraqi civilians to death in cold blood. And that’s just the beginning.
Based On A Pair Of Books
The Fifth Estate is based on two different books (Inside Wikileaks: My Time with Julian Assange at the World’s Most Dangerous Website and Wikileaks: Inside Julian Assange’s War on Secrecy) written by journalists who have had firsthand encounters with Assange and aims to get to the bottom of the scandal.
The film opens with the release of the War Logs in 2010 and then flashes back to 2007 when Assange (Benedict Cumberbatch) founded Wikileaks with a colleague, journalist Daniel Domscheit-Berg (Daniel Bruhl).
Bogged Down With Interpersonal Drama
According to The Fifth Estate, the purpose of Wikileaks was to acquire government and organizational secrets that the public had a right to know. Together, Assange and Domscheit-Berg release information about Scientology, Sarah Palin, and a list of British Nationalist Party members. Emboldened, Assange, who has a history as a computer hacker, scientist, and physicist, decides to investigate American government corruption.
Sadly, the film descends into interpersonal drama between Assange and Domscheit-Berg, with the latter becoming disillusioned about the mission of Wikileaks. He worries that people’s lives are being ruined and that Assange’s aspirations are less than honorable. The tensions between the Wikileaks partners escalated and finally resulted in the release of the documents provided by Daniel Manning (now known as Chelsea Manning), a former member of the US Military, who shared the documents with Wikileaks.
Available Through Video On Demand
REVIEW SCORE
The Fifth Estate ends with Assange in exile and Daniel writing a book about the entire ordeal (one of which is the basis of this film). I can’t say I love the way this film is put together, but I can say Cumberbatch does an excellent job of making us both love and hate Assange. We also can’t help but relate to Domsccheit-Berg.
I’d recommend The Fifth Estate to anyone interested in a closer look at the Wikileaks scandal. You can’t stream it anywhere for free now, but it’s available for rent from Amazon Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play. Hopefully, we get a better biopic soon.
