Snowden

There’s a T-shirt that sums it up: “The NSA is the ONLY branch of government that listens”! Jason Gordon-Leavitt is Edward Snowden, the computer consultant who created the PRISM program for US Intelligence that monitored private cell phone calls and computer communication for folks like Verizon and Yahoo, and who became a whistleblower after NSA turn-key tyranny violated the constitutional rights of US citizens. Director Oliver Stone has made a career out of conspiracy films about JFK, Nixon and W., blaming every misstep on Republicans while excusing guys like Hugo Chavez as world leaders who don’t play ball. Here he aims for balancing disgust for Bush’s Patriot Act with Obama’s continuing violation and abuse in this biopic that focuses on Snowden’s hotel meetings with documentarian Laura Poitras (Melissa Leo) and his relationship with girlfriend, Lindsay Mills (Shailene Woodley). Portrayed as neither a glory-seeking rebel or the Libertarian patriot, Gordon-Levitt turns this info junkie who is in over his head into a nervy paranoid compelled to protect the unsuspecting public even in defiance of FISA court charges.

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