Fifth Estate - 2 smiles

“The Fifth Estate” takes on the important 21^st century question of information flow vs. privacy rights and turns it into a confusing mix of techno thriller and future-of-journalism lecture. Directed by Bill Condon, the movie is about WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, the polarizing figure who became famous by posting secret documents from whistleblowers on his website. The script is based on books written by a former Assange collaborator, Daniel Domscheit-Berg (played by Daniel Bruhl) so Assange (Benedict Cumberbatch) comes off as less than heroic. Assange is a devoted champion of the underdog whose halo swiftly tarnishes once his gargantuan ego is challenged. The film focuses on the relationship between the two men, with the mysterious Assange as sort of Svengali who seduces Daniel with promises that they can change the world. The movie hints that Assange may suffer from some form of schizophrenia. Their partnership is threatened when they clash over a leak of classified documents on the U.S. war in Afghanistan. Assange is not interested in redacting names of government sources; Daniel and The Guardian editor who wants to co-publish the story say publishing the names will get people killed all over the world. Assange won’t budge; to him, editing equals bias.

The movie provides a showcase for British star Cumberbatch, whose Assange is mad prophet, sincere visionary, egomaniac, narcissist. On the other hand, Daniel Bruhl (recently in Ron Howard’s Rush) isn’t as dynamic an actor and his Berg often fades into the background. Overall the movie turns out to be more of an elementary primer on WikiLeaks than anything else. And computer code, IMs, emails and people banging away on keyboards does not translate well to film, no matter how many bells and whistles you add. And Condon slaps on quite a few. Bottom line, the film lacks focus with too many subplots: Laura Linney, Stanley Tucci and Anthony Mackie as U.S. government employees trying to deal with the WikiLeaks fallout. Another focuses on Alexander Siddig as a source in Lebanon whose life is in danger by Assange’s refusal to redact names. A third takes a look behind-the-scenes at The Guardian, whose top editors (David Thewlis and Peter Capaldi) figure out how to disseminate information being fed to them by Assange. By movie’s end, you know a lot about WikiLeaks, but not much about Assange. Condon doesn’t explore the sexual assault allegations against him or the fact that he’s now living at the Ecuadorean embassy in London. Although “The Fifth Estate” is a skillful assemblage of bits and pieces, it tells its story haphazardly and doesn’t have an ending. 10/24/13