Movie Review: Snowden *****

Snowden is the true story about the guy who released secret NSA documents to the media. Edward Snowden is a self-taught computer coding genius who dropped out of high school, received an administrative discharge from the Army, and became a private contractor with the CIA, NSA, DIA, and other government agencies. His intellect, conscience, and loyalty are compromised when he witnesses covert operations that are deemed normal, but are morally reprehensible. He is torn about what is pragmatic, what is his job, and what is his duty. He decides to work with the press to secretly get them documents that would uncover the level of spying that the NSA is doing on regular Americans. His plan is successfully executed, he goes on the run, and gets stuck in Moscow.

I think that most people recognize Ed Snowden’s name, but do not realize exactly what he was trying to do. This film identifies Snowden and shows who he was, what he did, and why he did it. It explains the level of information that has been gathered about our enemies, our allies, and our citizens. It shows the soul searching that lead to what some will call an act of treason and others and act of patriotism. This is an important movie that will be in the news again when his asylum runs out. It may be renewed, he could be smuggled out, or he could be extradited. This story is not over, yet. Snowden wants to come home and face the consequences, but he wants to be tried in a public court. This movie is filmed like a news expose. This Oliver Stone movie is over 2 hours long. The story is told very well. There are some bonus scenes during the credits. The movie is excellent for the information it provides. The actor looks like Snowden. The story is outstanding. I loved it. 5 out of 5 stars.