The Fifth Estate

 

MPAA/Content R [AC, AL, MV]

Distributor Touchstone Pics.   (2013)

Technical HD 2.35:1

Genres  DRA THR HIS

Runtime 128 mins.

Country US UK

Budget $28M

 

CAST

Benedict Cumberbatch, Daniel Brühl, Anthony Mackie, David Thewlis, Moritz Bleibtreu, Alicia Vikander, Peter Capaldi, Carice van Houten, Dan Stevens, Stanley Tucci & Laura Linney

 

CREDITS

Director: Bill Condon; Screenwriter: Josh SInger; Producers: Steve Golin & Michael Sugar; Director Of Photography: Tobias A. Schilesser; Production Designer: Mark Tildesley; Editor: Virginia Katz; Costume Designer: Shay Cunliffe; Music Composer: Carter Burwell

 

THE SYNOPSIS

In 2007, idealistic German journalist Daniel Dormsheit-Berg (Brühl) hooks up with one Julian Assange (Cumberbatch)—a strange, paranoid Australian hacker/computer wiz and founder of the online oracle WikiLeaks (a website dedicated to releasing information being withheld from the world public).

The men set about making WikiLeaks an internet sensation by divulging secret info on various European banks and their greedy hierarchies—thus causing scandal and governmental investigations to ensue. Some time later, Assange and Daniel team up with The Guardian brass—including investigative reporter Nick Davies (Thewlis), editor Alan Rusbridger (Capaldi) and deputy editor Ian Katz (Stevens)—to collude the WikiLeaks info…therefore bringing credibility to the website. Germany’s Der Speigel and the USA’s New York Times soon join in.

By 2010, Assange has managed to alienate Daniel and his staff—especially when he has the Bradley Manning affair leaked—thus irritating not only his own circle by rashly opening Pandora’s Box before confirming the facts—but also drawing the ire of the US Government. Their response is to send Under Secretary Of State Sarah Shaw (Linney), White House Deputy National Security Advisor Sam Coulson (Mackie) and Deputy Secretary Of State For Political Affairs James Boswell (Tucci) out after Assange and his WiklLeaks team to shut them down.

It is by this point that Daniel has left WikiLeaks and begins to undermine all that the Svengali-like Assange has attempted —claiming that his pursuit of the Truth is on a different path that Julian’s. He later writes a book on his WikiLeaks experiences. Assange denies all allegations and threatens to sue—from the comfort of the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, where he currently dwells in political asylum due to sexual abuse allegations lobbed at him in Sweden.

 

THE CRITIQUE 

Full confession: until I heard that THE FIFTH ESTATE was coming out as a motion picture, I had never even heard of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, the Bradley Manning incident, nor of Daniel Dormsheit-Berg’s book “Inside WikiLeaks: My Time with Julian Assange at the World’s Most Dangerous Website”—of which this movie is primarily based on. And I know what you’re going to say:

A good-looking stud with an inherent and intelligent writing style; a didactic finger on Cinema’s pulse; a charming way with women and police officers—but man, that Youssef is completely out of touch with the socio-political schema and the impact that the internet (yea, The Fifth Estate, if you will) has on the moral complexities of a changing, raging world.

Yes, to everything. Guilty. As. Charged. Excuse me if I have never heard of this WikiLeaks stuff until recently. I’m so busy screening movies to make you readers happy that the other aspects of my life are left by the wayside…waiting for freakin’ Godot like the rest of ‘em.  SO CUT ME SOME SLACK!!!!

(Breathe… [Omm] Breathe… [Omm] Breathe… [Omm])

But seriously: I had to do some 4^th Quarter research to fully comprehend what WikiLeaks and the ensuing scandals were about before screening this flick. (Hey, how ‘bout that Internet, huh?! More than just kittens and porn, it turns out.) And you know what I realized? I don’t care! This stuff is a drop in the proverbial bucket of Life—and we all keep moving. Still, they went ahead and made a movie about WikiLeaks, so I guess I’d better get to it…

As aforementioned, the screenplay written by TV scribe Josh Singer (The West Wing, Fringe) is based on Dormsheit-Berg’s book “Inside WikiLeaks: My Time with Julian Assange at the World’s Most Dangerous Website” and David Leigh & Luke Harding’s “WikiLeaks: Inside Julian Assange’s War On Secrecy”. The screenplay is decently written but unfocused, and comes off more as a MFTV project that tries to evoke the big screen politico-thrillers of yore like The Manchurian Candidate (1962), The Parallax View (1974), 3 Days Of The Condor (1975), All The President’s Men (1976) and The Insider (1999).

Notice that (with the exception of the first and the last) these movies were made at the zenith of the Watergate 1970s, post-Vietnam/pre-disco catharsis. Back then, information leaks were a BIG deal because getting access to that classified info was pretty much impossible. Hell, we (as a society) are still dealing with the declassification and dissemination of the JFK assassination in 1963! Today—with the advent of technology, the Internet and information overload—nothing is a surprise or much of a big deal to the larger masses. Now news is already old news by the next click of your mouse…

Conversely, THE FIFTH ESTATE is well directed by the talented Bill Condon (Gods And Monsters, Kinsey, Dreamgirls, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Parts 1 & 2)—a filmmaker whose movies I happen to admire. Having to take some shaky scripted material and turning it into a feature takes skill. But the question for Condon to his writer and producers should have been: “Is this a docu-drama or a techno-thriller?” The movie tries to be both—but comes up an HTTP link short on either end.

Acting-wise, the omni-present British acting sensation Humperdinck Snapperbatch steals the show as the enigmatic Julian Assange in this, his 130^th movie of 2013. Surely I jest. Benedict Cumberbatch only appeared in 6 feature films this year (!) and gives a rather interesting performance (replete with wigs, false teeth & contact lenses) on a personality who comes off as a serious cyber-sociopath. Of course, the real Assange (who actually communicated with B.C. during the shoot) claims that the books based on him and WikiLeaks are biased and slanted—but that’s for history to decide. Cumberbatch brings intensity, resolve and focus (in an unfocused movie, sadly) to the role.

The other pillar in THE FIFTH ESTATE is up-and-coming German-Spanish actor Daniel Brühl—who all-but-stole Ron Howard’s Rush in his other 2013 movie and fared better in that one as Formula One racer Niki Lauda. Here, Brühl portrays the aforementioned Daniel Dormsheit-Berg very much as a combination of the audience surrogate and the put-upon journalist whose conscience gets the better of him. Not sure how it all really played out in real life, but Brühl is a good enough actor that we are comfortable with his character imbuing the movie’s moral compass. The rest of the cast (all familiar faces) bring their game to the proverbial table, with English character actor David Thewlis as the standout.

Production values for this modestly-budgeted $28 million (boxofficemojo.com) movie is solid across the board. It was shot across Europe in locations as varied as Belgium, Germany & Iceland and in the African nation of Kenya. What THE FIFTH ESTATE lacks in writing surely makes up in its technical and mise-en-scène facets.

Credit the appropriately cold and sterile HD-widescreen lensing to ace German cinematographer Tobias A. Schliessler (The Rundown, Dreamgirls, Battleship, Lone Survivor)—another favorite lenser of mine. The movie, bathed in metallic gray and computer green palettes (and utilizing the versatile ARRI Alexa Studio & ARRI Alexa Plus camera packages), evokes the notion of being inside cyberspace and the thrill that the dissemination of information via the Internet must feel like visually. Though I am still a film advocate, I do appreciate the use of the HD format to tell this story.

A complicated cutting schema by Condon’s long-time editor Virginia Katz (Gods And Monsters, Kinsey, Dreamgirls, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Parts 1 & 2); appropriately techie-and-grunge-production design by veteran Englishman Mark Tildesley (28 Days Later, The Constant Gardener, 28 Weeks Later, Trance); and techno-based score by the talented Coen Brothers (Raising Arizona, Miller’s Crossing, The Big Lebowski, No Country For Old Men) & Condon (Gods And Monsters, Kinsey, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Parts 1 & 2) composer Carter Burwell add that extra moonstar to the overall rating score.

 

THE BOTTOM LINE

As a dramatic thriller, THE FIFTH ESTATE lacks the gravitas that its cinematic forebearers so easily imbued back in the day. That being said, a good cast (especially Humperdinck Snapperbatch—er, sorry: Benedict Cumberbatch) and better craftsmen behind the lens still put on an acceptable show. Since this WikiLeaks business is so old hat in our internet-based, “gotta have the news NOW” world—the movie’s raison d’être and impact has lessened to an afterthought. Such is the cold, fickle world we live in—ooh…look what’s on YouTube now…

 

 

 

IMDB:                   http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1837703/

Wikipedia:             http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fifth_Estate_(film)

Official Site:          http://www.thefifthestatemovie.com