True Crime Thriller On Max Gives Joseph Gordon-Levitt His Best Role

You don’t have to care about Gordon-Levitt or have any concept of the important work Oliver Stone does, or even be that interested in what has happened during the information wars in the United States to enjoy this movie. Snowden is a crime thriller that asks you to really think about who the actual criminals are in the sharing of information. Over the last couple of decades, the United States and other countries in the western world have increased the amount and type of surveillance it performs over its own citizens, all in the name of safety. 

The film opens with Edward Snowden (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) in 2013 arranging a highly secretive meeting in Hong Kong with journalists Laura Poitras (Melissa Leo) and Glenn Greenwald (Zachary Quinto). He is about to give them hard evidence that the United States has been performing mass surveillance of the American people illegally. Then, we flash back to 2004 when Snowden first hoped to serve his country through enlistment in the military.

Unfortunately, because he becomes physically disabled, he is unable to serve. However, his superiors encourage him to find other ways to contribute to the U.S.

We learn that Snowden is a bit of an idiot savant when it comes to technology. He applies to work for the CIA and is given a test to build a covert communications network in his hometown, delete it, and rebuild it in under eight hours — he’s told the average time is five hours. When the task takes him only 38 minutes, he gains the attention of Deputy Director Corbin O’Brian (Rhys Ifans). However, once he realizes the extent of what the CIA is doing, including entrapping targets with information obtained illegally, Snowden resigns from his post. 

Thinking he’ll find more fulfilling work at the NSA, he takes a position in Japan to help the U.S. build information programs, only to find the United States is acting in nefarious ways through the NSA in this department as well. As we learn what Snowden learns, we watch his anxiety over this information escalate. He becomes paranoid, watching his back everywhere he goes and worrying over what could happen to his girlfriend, Lindsay Mills (Shailene Woodley).

The tensions run high from the onset of the film, and they never come down. 

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As Snowden has to confront his own moral compass and decide whether to become a traitor to the government by sharing his knowledge with the public, we can’t help but feel for him in his crisis. Any lesser individual might just quit their job and go work in a private tech firm, making lots of money and forgetting what they know. But Snowden’s conscience won’t allow him to do that.

He puts his safety on the line to get this information out, and he’s been hiding in Russia under asylum from U.S. prosecution ever since. 

In light of Julian Assange’s recent plea deal with the United States, this film should be watched and re-watched to help us understand a bit more about the information wars still taking place today. Stream Snowden on Max the next chance you get.