Oliver Stone's Snowden, in a way like his 1989 classic Born on the Fourth of July, focuses on a young American patriot and idealist who thinks that his country is looking out for him and that, as a result, he needs to dedicate his life to it. Eric Snowden may not be Ron Kovic, but he's this millennium's hero of Stone's choice, a man who stood up against this country and government when he discovered the CIA and NSA's efforts to spy on its citizens' phones and e-mails, and decided to leak said information to the press. As played by Joseph Gordon-Leavitt, Snowden is as mild mannered as they come, a dork whose brain is programmed to decipher computer data, and not to commit moral and unethical acts of voyeurism on a nearly global scale. Eric Snowden was, naturally, painted as a traitor and condemned as a villain of the United States by the government officials, and for the most part, everyone believed him to be just that. It's unfortunate that they've been made to look foolish on the part of an inquisitive and curious filmmaker. I guess it's not the first time that our intelligence has been made to appear like a bunch of asses, and it probably won't be the last.
B+
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