Big Brother is watching you. In June 2013, the Georges Orwell’s novel Nineteen Eighty-Four turned out to join the reality. The Washington Post and The Guardian, helped by Edward Snowden, a former NSA and CIA engineer, revealed information about numerous global surveillance programs, involving the NSA and the Five Eyes Intelligence Alliance, with the cooperation of telecommunication companies and European governments.

The film Snowden directed by Oliver Stone traces this story of a young and patriotic American dreaming of serving his country by joining the US military forces and who incrementally begins to doubt in the validity of their actions. This excellent biopic tells with a lot of accuracy the mind path of Edward Snowden until his decision to release classified information.
The film clearly takes Snowden’s side,  introducing him as a whistle-blower who took the risk to give up his comfortable life to make what he thought to be the right thing to do for his country and compatriots. Joseph Gordon-Levitt, playing Edward Snowden, is impeccable in his role, as well as his partner on screen, Shailene Woodley. The romance between them brings a little bit of fresh air and hope in which we all know will be a difficult journey.

The hidden spy life makes many of us dream. Films always made it seem absolutely cool despite its brutality. Besides, our society has happily accepted the idea of the existence of secret services a long time ago, notably because they have been created to ensure our security. Hence, at first sight, Snowden could be any basic spy film, because it has all the ingredients: a patriotic hero who wants to fight the villains to save the nation. But, by definition, extraordinary adventures happen to extraordinary people. Also, spy films have always put the ordinary people, us, out of the equation. We are supposed to be simple viewers, but here suddenly the classic spy films are liars. We are starting to share the doubt and the interrogations of Edward Snowden in front of all the consequences, which he will have to face if he decides to speak out as well as if he decides to keep quiet. A new equation appears and we are at its very heart.

Usually, we love the feeling that we are entering a dangerous and secret world through the film story. As every human being, we are keen to learn about the dark secrets of our enemies. But the excitement and charm of the spy mechanism start to slowly vanish when we realise, as well as Snowden, that we are the target, on behalf of the fight against terrorism and the economic war. Nobody likes to see ones private life exposed to indiscreet eyes. Therefore, our moral struggles to establish what is finally right or wrong. If the espionage is vital to our protection, at what cost? What is the value of our consent against war?

At the end, it is hard not to agree with his decision to release information, which seems essential to the protection of our private life. But, despite our grateful feeling towards him, we also have the sad impression that his actions will remain vain, apart from raising consciences and making us interrogate ourselves. Other than that, outlasted the shock of the revelation, nobody can truly believe that governments will stop their investigations in our private life. Our fear of an invisible enemy will always justify the illegal actions of our governments since they have vocation to protect us, in spite of their annoyances and disturbances. It is one of the big dilemmas of the human being : choosing between being physically safe or being intellectually safe. The film opts for the second one, but it is up to you to make your choice.

During the film, one specific question really bugged me, though. Were we really unaware of this mass surveillance, at least regarding the young generation? The younger ones grew up in a world made of and by computers. We have been surrounded all our life by electronic devices, which are able to save our data, geolocalise us, are equipped with camera and are perpetually connected to the Internet. As well, hacking is no mystery to us, at least its existence. Worse yet, every time a new security and privacy policy of software pops up on our screen we gently accept the conditions without reading them, as if we have already given up on our rights to privacy. Thus, perhaps it is time to think about teaching the next generation how to protect their fundamental rights on the Internet so that, unlike us, they will be given a choice.

Video courtesyof: Open Road Films

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Carine Belmont
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