Dec2013_MOVIE REVIEW: The Fifth Estate

– and this is the last review straight from the UK. (Gemma is back home now, but our deadline was before her return date.)

By Gemma Schuhmann

The Fifth Estate follows the true story of how WikiLeaks became a world wide name.  Based on two books written by the men that helped get WikiLeaks to where it is today.

The story explains the events that took place which lead to the 2011 news release of classified Afghan war logs and diplomatic cables.

 

The film is heavily based on the relationship between Julian Assange (Benedict Cumberbatch) and Daniel Berg (Daniel Brühl) that started so perfectly before it slowly led to the explosive fall out.  Considering Berg wrote one of the books this was based on, every character and event has not been seen through his eyes.  They’ve all been given a chance to show their point of view as well.  Which is very unexpected for a story that has very strong opinions from everyone involved and that is still being portrayed in the media today.

 

Now this film is not about Julian Assange, it is about the people and their relationships that built WikiLeaks.  However you can’t have WikiLeaks without him.  The film leaves you to make up your own mind about Assange.  They ended the film in such a way that at first you don’t know what to think, almost unsatisfied.  But then they give you a short scene constructed from an interview Assange gave.  Then you get it.  This film could have been messy and one sided.  And yet it’s been cleverly put together to get every side of the story.  The thing to remember is that this film is not a documentary.  It is a dramatization.

 

Courage, is what this film has.  Not many filmmakers would tackle such a huge controversial story that is still making headlines.  But all credit to Benedict Cumberbatch who received an email from Julian Assange one day before shooting begging him not to make this film.  Thankfully he went ahead with the film and has created a character that is almost undistinguishable between the real person and himself with the help of a wig, some dye and prosthetics of course.

 

The Fifth Estate will make you think.  As the film says ‘if you want the truth, you must discover it for yourself’.  So stop reading the review, go see it.

(4 out of 5 Stars)