From the day WikiLeaks exploded into the public eye with the reams of documents stolen by Bradley Manning and published by Julian Assange on his website a complex narrative has unfolded that stretches decades back in time and which will probably continue to unfold in the years to come. It is a compelling story, a heady mix of espionage, moral drama and crime thriller, together with some technological mastery and computer wizards.
This documentary begins with the infamous Worms Against Nuclear Killers, the computer worm that attacked NASA computers just before the launch of the Galileo Spacecraft, which is now thought to be the work of Assange and an early sign of what was to come later. WikiLeaks was founded in 2006 as a website where secret documents with potentially damning information could be dropped via a secure link anonymously. Since then, the website has covered several key world events such as the Icelandic financial collapse, tax evasion in Swiss banking, toxic waste dumping…the list goes on. Perhaps the single most well known act that it has committed however is the one that launched Assange into the public eye all over the world; uploads to WikiLeaks of the Iraq and Afghanistan war documents, videos and cables, all secret and classified.
The subject is a fascinating one. Assange in the first half of the film appears as a radical political hero, an uncompromising idealist, exactly the image that he wanted to put out to the world. It is with considerable narrative flair that director Alex Gibney begins to dissect that image in the latter half of the film as Assange’s goal begins to crumble, becomes tarnished and paranoia sets in.
The film also packs a very emotional punch when exploring the story of Bradley Manning, a teenager with confused sexuality and gender who enlisted in the army for the money, was bullied and became painfully disillusioned when he began to watch the videos of American operations throughout the war.
We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks is certainly a compelling film, thoroughly researched and well structured. As a documentary Gibney finds a very neat equilibrium in his arrangement of the material, comprised of documentary footage and interviews in the main. The only real problem with the film is that one gets a sense after the film is over that despite Gibney’s efforts to draw it to a meaningful conclusion, the fact remains self-evident that this story is not yet over and it is perhaps too early to try and direct a retrospective over it when we are still effectively in the middle of the story being told.
Nevertheless, this is a complex and well-made documentary with an interesting subject and compelling pace. Maybe at some point in the future Gibney will make a sequel which will give full credence to this story’s denouement.
15 Certificate
Review by LiveWire Film Critic, James Martin (July ’13)