A superb companion movie to 'Citizenfour', which is still a must see

Rating: 9/10 (26 November 2016)

For those who saw the 2015 award winning documentary 'Citizenfour'by Laura Poitras, there is much interesting backstory in Oliver Stone's movie 'Snowden' you won't want to miss. And of course for those who have not seen it, you should, you must.
Is there anyone on the planet who has access to a TV or to the web, reads the occasional newspaper who hasn't heard about Edward Snowden? The subject of the movie is of course the world famous whistle-blower, but the movie has as much to do with cyber spying and mass data gathering as it does with Snowden himself. Oliver Stone illustrates well the awesome, and I do mean awesome, power of the US intelligence community and in fact the intelligence community of all the major powers. It is, dare I say it, scary as hell. The movie may be a dramatization, but it does not leave anyone doubt about the government agencies capabilities nor are we left wondering what they can do with it.
The dream role of any actor is to portray real people of great notoriety and Joseph Gordon-Levitt landed that title character's role. He did as good a job as any actor could; I was pleased with his performance but I knew what this guy can do so I was not blown away nor surprised. He must have studied Snowden well because all who have seen the real Snowden, in the documentary and in the several interviews he's granted in recent years, have been exposed to just enough of the personality to be able to compare. As I mentioned, Gordon-Levitt did as good a job as any actor could.
We learn of Snowden's military debut, his rise thru the ranks of the intelligence agencies, his superior abilities and skills and the personal life dilemma he had to struggle with. Even if you treat the drama part in disbelief, one can still get a sense of the man as he might have been or is now.
The cast of characters from Zachary Quinto, to Nicolas Cage and the brilliant performance of Rhys Ifans will keep you interested. Lesser characters like that of the CIA agent in Geneva played by Timothy Olyphant, or the Trevor James character played by Scott Eastwood, whose resemblance to his famous father Clint is undeniable, or the Ewen MacAskill role played by Tom Wilkinson also add to the movie's plus factor.
You may have had an opinion about Snowden, whether you view him as a hero or a traitor, before the movie, but Oliver Stone's script and direction leaves no doubt as to what side he was on given his historical penchant. If you forgot about all the hype the true story gathered or about how serious a revelation the Times and The Guadian papers reported, you must see this film. Admittedly you may hate it if you strongly believe Snowden is a traitor, but you will like it if you are thankful for what we learned thanks to the man.