The definitive 21st century documentary: a global tech conspiracy, leaked in real-time by its source, with an aftershock that absorbs the filmmaker into part of the story. Bunkered down in a Hong Kong hotel, Poitras records a stoic, paranoid Edward Snowden as he blows the whistle on the NSA’s planet-wide surveillance - then vaporises when the manhunt begins. The key dramatic question, Snowden’s motivation, is a footnote for Poitras, who cuts through the baffling, abstract magnitude of the NSA’s spying to deliver a stark, clear-eyed warning of the West’s vanishing freedoms. Tonally, it’s an eerie film of cold anxiety rather than tension; you’re pinned to your seat through sheer, shattering disbelief.
Citizenfour Review
![Citizenfour](https://images.bauerhosting.com/legacy/empire-tmdb/films/293310/images/fluGetObCo2FxoJ6KaUzMvtOxVc.jpg?ar=16%3A9&fit=crop&crop=top&auto=format&w=1440&q=80)
When director Laura Poitras is emailed out of the blue by Citizen Four, aka defence analyst Edward Snowden, shes invited to chronicle the leak, and aftermath, of a scandal: the NSAs relentless, worldwide surveillance program...
Release Date:
29 Oct 2014
Running Time:
114 minutes
Certificate:
15
Original Title:
Citizenfour
Bold, unblinking filmmaking no less than a living document of a global scandal straight from the whistleblower. Alarming and essential anyone with a phone should see it.
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