Citizenfour Review

Laura Poitras’ Citizenfour captures the immense weight of Edward Snowden’s decision to leak classified NSA documents, exposing a vast global surveillance system operating without public knowledge or consent. The documentary follows Snowden as he collaborates with journalists Glenn Greenwald and Ewan MacAskill, carefully strategizing how to reveal the extent of government overreach. In typical American fashion, this government overreach is protected by a law written before computers were invented. What really stood out to me was how much Greenwald truly listened to Snowden and the other journalists involved took everything so seriously, respecting Snowden’s insights, concerns, and wanting to portray his motivations in the proper light, ensuring that the leaks and stories remained faithful to his intent and were not sensationalized. Snowden’s approach is framed not as reckless but as deeply considered, driven by his beliefs that the public had the right to understand what is being done in its name.

One of the most unsettling aspects of the documentary is the sheer scale of surveillance. The scale and magnitude of the information being exposed, as well as the situations the parties involved were in, is incomprehensible. It is not just a case of intelligence agencies tracking criminals, but an indiscriminate, all-encompassing data collection system affecting millions of people across the world. As a Canadian, I can not help but wonder to what extent we are being tracked by these kinds of agencies, foreign governments, or our own government. While some of the revelations might not feel entirely surprising, it is shocking to the extent to which government observation and surveillance occur. As much as there has always been suspicion of government overreach in surveillance, knowing for certain, with concrete data, makes it much harder to ignore.

The framing of the whistleblowing by the different parties was also unsurprising but still a bit shocking. Hearing the perspectives of Snowden, how he chooses and hopes to frame things; seeing how Greenwald decides to drip the rounds of information and stories and how he frames each story; and hearing President Barack Obama speak against Snowden in a very politician-like way was frustrating and fascinating. I found the section where they frame increased surveillance as having less liberty and freedom to be an effective way to make this reality hit harder for those who may not be as invested or interested in these kinds of stories otherwise. The documentary suggests that the idea of balancing security and privacy is misleading (a sentiment Dr. Chris Schneider discusses at length in his Police Organization and Management in a Democratic Society course), as what is framed as “security” often comes at the cost of fundamental rights. This is not to say that this is always a bad thing, but who actually decides what level of surveillance is acceptable and what kind of protections are in place for individual citizens? 

It was so fascinating to see an average person demonstrate the idea of “knowledge is power.” Snowden had an overwhelming amount of knowledge and was able to use that knowledge to contribute to meaningful action that he felt was for the betterment of society. Sure, there may be many people who hold this type of knowledge, but his move to act on it not only contributed to change but also helped him garner support and protection to escape the retaliation of the United States government. As brave as Snowden’s actions were, we are left to wonder what action was taken to address these concerns, as the documentary does not continue for another hour to explore the outcomes of this event. I would not be surprised if nothing changed, but at the very least, this hopefully brought greater awareness to the general public about privacy and digital safety issues.

The film felt grounded and almost casual in an anxiety-provoking and unsettling way. Everyone was so calm about everything, but they were confident in what they were doing and how they were doing it. This documentary, I feel, succeeds in avoiding sensationalizing Snowden and letting the information speak for itself. As with all political science classes and politics-related things, this film has left me uneasy, concerned, and increasingly pessimistic. I think, importantly, it does highlight how it only takes one person to stand up and do what they believe is the right thing, and others will follow. Systems and institutions will not change on their own, so we have to be the change we want to see.