Not sure about its sincerity and authenticity, but I just enjoyed it as a well made thriller full of good performances

Rating: 7/10 (27 January 2017)

Edward Snowden has had an interesting episode in his life defying the most powerful spy agency and in the process becoming both a hero and a villain depending on our view of his actions. What Oliver Stone got right is his casting and what he got wrong is that he picked a side. Considering this is a contemporary issue with an on-going raging debate about his actions, a popular movie showcasing Edward Snowden as a hero will no doubt influence the public perception whoever doesn't watch it with an open mind.
Snowden (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is a patriotic youngster who joins the army to serve his country. When a training accident leaves him unfit for field duty, his expertise and interest in computers leads him to join the training for the virtual battleground under his mentor Corbin O'Brian (Rhys Ifans). When he meets his liberal girlfriend Lindsay Mills (Shailene Woodley), a section of his thought process gets unlocked leading to him questioning the actions of his agency and also himself. On the side, the sequences shown in the documentary where Snowden meets journalists and filmmakers Laura Poitras (Melissa Leo), Glenn Greenwald (Zachary Quinto) and Ewen MacAskill (Tom Wilkinson) in a Hong Kong hotel unfolds in a non-linear mode;
There is no doubt about the weight of Snowden's revelations. Snooping on the private space of normal citizens across the world including the domestic American citizens is something that cannot be ignored. At the same time, how else does a security agency preempt an attack or a conspiracy without having options to filter between harmless and dangerous? It is a very thin line on which most of the security agencies around the world might walk in.
Getting Joseph Gordon-Levitt to play the titular character is job half done for Oliver Stone. Though Levitt looks already all geeky, he's hardly had an opportunity to play one and when he got one, he gives a performance par excellence. Bringing in the veterans like Leo and Wilkinson along with a proved talent like Quinto adds in the necessary depth and seriousness to the recreated documentary sequences. However the dramatization and and fictionalization might have gone a little too far when showing the entire NSA personnel having a very callous attitude towards private data of citizens which could not be true.
All the performances were excellent and especially enjoyed a very restrained performance by Nicolas Cage after such a long time. The background score adds to the thrill in some scenes and the screenplay is good in parts. However the runtime might be a little too long for a story which most knows how it ends. The bias is clearly visible when Snowden is shown as a hero and it could evoke some passionate discussions and debates from opinionistic viewers which is good for the movie.
Not sure about its sincerity and authenticity, but I just enjoyed it as a well made thriller full of good performances.