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Greetings again from the darkness. Edward Snowden. You know the name and you know the story. Hero of the People or Enemy of the State? Ultimate Patriot or a double-spy for the Russians? Protected as a Whistle-Blower or Guilty of Treason? Chances are you long ago made up your mind on how you view Ed (his stated name preference).

In January 2013, Snowden contacted documentarian Laura Poitras via an anonymous email name "Citizenfour". By June, the two were meeting in a Hong Kong hotel along with journalist Glenn Greenwald. What follows is a mesmerizing look at the actual footage shot of Greenwald interviewing Snowden. This is Ed Snowden before the media storm. This is Ed Snowden continually proclaiming that he is not the story, and he is trusting Greenwald to determine what documents are fit for public release. He voices concern about jeopardizing national security, while at the same time being adamant about exposing the immense and widespread governmental tracking of digital movements by millions of people … most with no known ties to terrorism.

The timeline is public record, so the core of the film is really an intimate look at the man who, acutely aware of the coming fallout, proceeded with pulling the curtain back on NSA actions that he deemed inappropriate. Ms. Poitras structures the film as a thriller, and it will certainly cause tension in every viewer. We can't help but put ourselves in Snowden's shoes. Would we feel the need to go public with proof? Who would we tell? How would we tell them? Would we be willing to release our name, knowing it could put everyone we love in danger? Would we be prepared to watch our President publicly call us out as unpatriotic and a danger to the nation? These questions are impossible for us to answer, but add weight to the scenes of Snowden answering Greenwald's questions while Ms. Poitras works the camera.

One of the more interesting points made in the movie is that what we once termed individual freedom and liberties, is now couched as privacy. We have come to expect our privacy, and certainly don't appreciate our government digging through our emails, search history, texts and phone calls. But how to balance the individual "right" to privacy with the government's need to collect intelligence in the name of national security? That's the key question, and one with no clear answer.

Regardless of your opinion on Snowden and his actions, the film presents him as an idealist believing he is doing the right thing. Most of this occurs before the media firestorm, but we do see the anticipated fallout. Once Snowden goes into hiding, we witness Greenwald becoming the face and voice of the cause. He is a talented journalist and exceptional speaker, and doesn't back down from the reaction of those who stand accused.

The film allows us to take notice of the personal attacks on Snowden as an attempt discredit his documentation. Making Snowden the story distracted the media and the general public from the real issue. It's a fascinating film that will surely make you uncomfortable and cause re-evaluation of the chain of events. You may not change your mind, but you will most certainly have a better understanding of the human side.

...and given the constraints they were operating under, maybe that much could not be revealed.

The first 20 minutes or so are of Ed, who isn't even known to the world yet, talking to a couple of journalists he has invited to his Hong Kong hotel room where he is hiding out from a system that doesn't even know he is missing yet. In a way, I'm surprised they came because about ten minutes into the conversation one says "What is your name again?", so maybe they had no idea what they were getting into, maybe at first they thought they were dealing with a crackpot, etc.

Some people have said it is boring, and I don't know why. Although you never get any real specifics about what Snowden did have on the NSA, you get an idea from him just sitting on his bed in his tee shirt talking to these journalists that he has seen stuff that has made him hyper vigilant. He puts a red hood over him when he types in a password to his laptop in case there is visual surveillance, he unplugs the phone because it contains ICs that can be used as a "hot mike", and he is highly suspicious when the fire alarms go off just as he is talking about what he knows. His fear is real.

I think this preliminary footage may have just been a way to show a human side of Ed. I mean, a lot of the documentary (on top of revealing more details of the secrets he leaked) is meant to show to the world that he's not crazy bob in his trailer in Nevada. He's a young, very smart, very articulate, very normal individual. Showing him simply struggling with his hair (something I'm sure most of us have dealt with at one point or another) demonstrates to us that he's not a mysterious conspiracy theorist to be dismissed; he's just like you and I. And the human quality makes us trust what he has to say a lot more. It's easy to ignore someone you think is crazy. It's not so easy to ignore someone in whom you see a little bit of yourself.

As for Glenn Greenwald of UK's The Guardian, he's shown as an articulate spokesman and advocate. He goes to Brazil and explains to them that all of this surveillance is just not about fighting terrorism. He brings his case home to them by saying if they were bidding on a contract in the US, then all of the details of their negotiations and plans to get that contract are now in the hands of the US government, and could be put in the hands of any American competitor.

The negatives? There is a part at the end that is not clearly explained. It is a conversation between Greenwald and Snowden about there being another contact in Germany that is ready to talk about what he knows about NSA surveillance. Some extremely unclear pictures are drawn and Snowden looks somewhat horrified saying stuff like "This is very risky. Does this guy know what he is doing, etc." He is really scared for the new contact, but it is never clear what is going on. The only other negative I have is, did the print explaining the transition between scenes HAVE to be so small? I had to pause the DVD and get up close to the screen to see what was being said.

I'd highly recommend this documentary just based on the fact that it pulls together some of the information that has now been scrubbed from public sources, shows Snowden as a human being, shows the bravery of both himself and Glenn Greenwald, and brings up that pesky question - is giving up such privacy - which as the documentary mentions is pretty much a synonym for liberty - worth it for increased security. Benjamin Franklin seemed to think that was not so. Watch it with an open mind.

I really appreciate what Snowden did and this film only raises my level of gratitude because it shows the man as well as the information he disclosed. Given this and the risk a filmmaker takes when recording a sensitive subject like this, I do think that the makers of Citizenfour should be praised.

However, once you start watching it you realize that it is made from the same mold that other revelatory, controversial or conspiracist documentaries are made from. The Oscar is not for the quality of the film as it is for the subject. And, assuming that you are informed about the case - I still get the shivers when I see that most people I meet don't even know who Snowden is, you might find it difficult to understand why this movie is better than others, cinematically speaking.

Also, I feel that the film was way too focused on the journalistic process and too little on the actual meaning of the information or the aftermath of the disclosures. It is, actually, a human angle story more than a documentary about the biggest intelligence reveal of the last century. While not a bad thing, it is ironically what Snowden repeatedly said he does not want: to be the center of the story.

One gets to feel the alienation and pervasive angst that Snowden felt, even if this is sometimes done through cheap soundtrack tricks. One sees a smiling 29 year old become burdened more and more as time goes by. Less smiling, more dark patches under the eyes, more bewildered looks. And this while staying in hotels and having communication with people that relay his information and while being protected by a nation state. It is unimaginable what a normal person, without this safety net, would feel.

Bottom line: certainly worth watching, not so sure about the Oscar thing, but as long as that raises awareness of the subject matter, it is also worthy.

Director Laura Poitras has made an interesting and eye opening documentary called "Citizenfour" which showcases the story and the actual interviews in Hong Kong of whistle blower Edward Snowden. Everyone remembers in the news the story of the NSA scandal it became clear to everyone that the federal government was doing privacy invasion on nearly all citizens of the united states. I know you feel the same way it's clear that a lot of times you hear your phone and cell calls monitored and true at work, when you shop, or go to the bank or even drive thru a traffic red light your on camera! Simple no one has privacy in the world, true as mentioned in the film 911 changed a lot of things still the NSA in my opinion has took it to far with their worldwide programs with the spying on emails and the data collection that is sold to other agency types it's like the feds know where you go everything you do and who you see! It's sad that we as citizens have to give up our privacy because of terror of other nations. Still it's an ever lasting issue really see this documentary it's revealing, provocative, educational, and blunt as it proves we as citizens don't have any privacy when it comes to freedom as your calls, emails, viewing choices, travels, and data is all looked at and matched it's time we had more people like Edward Snowden as a whistle blower can be a hero.

This film is recommended.

Traitor or hero? Idealist or cynic? Whistleblower or pawn? No matter one's opinions, Edward Snowden remains a fascinating person and this documentary analyzes his actions and motives. The filmmakers met him at the outset of his controversial decision to leak pertinent and highly classified information to the world about the underhanded dealings of the National Security Agency under the guise of homeland protection.

Laura Poitras, who was directly contacted with some encrypted e-mails from Edward Snowden, under the alias of citizenfour, directs this documentary as it follows his rise and fall as those stolen NSA documents are leaked to the public. These copies expose the international spying of thousands of American citizens and other foreign nationals. Filmed in Hong Kong, prior to his exile to Russia, Citizenfour documents Snowden as he becomes a man without a country. Articulate and appearing sincere, one senses his moralistic stance and his principles, but also his naivety when dealing with ruthless and powerful forces.

Poitras' film is a series of perfectly timed moments of news-in-the-making as she captures historic footage of the beginnings of a political bombshell that will escalate into an international scandal of epic proportions. The filmmaker develops a rapport and admiration with Snowden, which tends to bias her documentary, as she takes aim at the governmental spin to discredit him.

Nevertheless, what gives Citizenfour its real impact is its behind-the-scenes look at the misconduct and cover-ups of a nation, involving espionage wrongdoing by the American government and the unethical invasion of privacy of its people, via their phone and internet connections.

The film is extremely well made but lacking in innovative editing or artful photography. It's purely interview after interview, one talking head-shot after the next. The lengthy interviews between Snowden and Glenn Greenwald, the investigative reporter who broke the story, make up most of the film. But these sections are in need of some judicious editing as they go on far too long, even if they are historically significance moments in time.

Citizenfour is an important film about important issues. Its subject matter deals with larger issues of sacrifice, patriotism, and paranoia. A flip of the coin and one can see the film as sheer propaganda, intense political thriller, or a passionate film about our basic civil rights. It raises questions about our essential loss of freedom and our need for bigger and better surveillance tactics to fight terrorism and preserve homeland security at any costs.

Citizenfour remains a thought-provoking treatise on our politics post 9/11 and the fallout of one man's actions to make a change. GRADE: B

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The Philosophy this man stood up to well worth propagating, CitizenFour follows the Story of the now famous NSA whistleblower Edaward Snowden. From the time he he traveled to Hong Kong, the documentary follows actual footage that was taken of him and the collaborating Journalists meeting and talking about the extent of the Espionage and violation of privacy that NSA and GCHQ was undertaking.

In truth the true Hero here is Edward Snowden not any of the other Journalists, it took courage to give up your comfortable life to live a life on the run. To be frank of all the leaked information leaked to the the media outlet Guardian, only a biased selected documents was published about, in my opinion insulting the efforts and ideals of what Edward Snowden stood for.

If even one of these privacy violations are on going and and you let it pass, remember you are the sheep being slowly led to the slaughter.

Speak out now.

There's one documentary that breathes an air of importance you can feel from the poster. It'll probably win the Oscar on that basis. That film is Laura Poitras' Citizenfour, a film that documents Edward Snowden's leaks before he became a familiar face. He relays his point here, he doesn't want to be the story. He knows that's a matter of when and not if (his nickname of choice Citizenfour refers to how he's the fourth whistleblower for the NSA). Now that he is the story, here comes the perfect behind the scenes companion. I never knew much about Snowden, but this film humanizes him in a stripped down and honest if not a raw way. There's a brilliant moment early on with the first reveal of Snowden after Poitras mislead us with a female actor dictating his emails. You get a sense of this moment's significance - and then it blossoms all the way to President Obama. Sequences such as a fire alarm going off every minute keep you on edge, always aware of the paranoia in today's society. It operates on an interesting irony with how they're filming yet aware of surveillance. The documentary has a very matter-of-fact approach to its events but that's all it needs, and Poitras and her team get out of the way despite opening the film in an autobiographical way. Citizenfour puts faces on the controversy, remaining intelligent without being too dry to swallow. I may prefer other documentaries this year, including similarly themed The Internet's Own Boy, but it deserves the acclaim and attention. Very well-executed and revealing without being overly scare-mongering.

8/10

Very good documentary made under extraordinary circumstances.

The story from the horse's mouth. Must-see perspective for anyone interested in topics of spying, hacking, tyranny, and privacy. Snowden comes across as a true idealist. The journalistic side of the story is also fascinating.

Rating-8/10

CITIZENFOUR is a movie documentary that explores in depth what the US government is doing to ordinary citizens. It's eye opening the whole way through and thrilling in a slightly odd kind of way but all in all is important as documentaries go. It's secretive nature is well done and as the story breaks you really feel a sense of not only thrill, but also of a kind of emotion toward Snowden and very much thinking how he must be feeling right then.

Laura Poitras creates this in a way that although can be slightly dull especially at the beginning, still manages to be rewarding by the end and your mind will or should be buzzing like crazy as the credits slowly roll. Everyone involved on this is magnificent from the journalists Glenn Greenwald and Ewan Macaskill to Julien Assange, this really encapsulates how much raw emotion can be felt by real life events and how they unravel. One point about those involved is then the scale of people who keep coming, we start with two and by the end there seems to be so many people helping Snowden it seems unbelievable such a quiet conversation in a Hong Kong hotel room could create such a storm.

Look I mean this is one documentary that many many people will enjoy as I did, but I couldn't help feel although the overriding message is an interesting one and everything that happens, computing system jargon is fairly dull to those of us who are less learned and so some scenes end up just a little too confusing at points. It does however as previously mentioned have it's moments of brilliance and even in slow moving scenes you still remain enthralled and thrilled at everything that is going on.

I really feel this is a must see documentary and for US or UK or any country where surveillance was gathered citizens, this is important viewing. You may feel at the start that it isn't that great but just leave it on and you'll see why so many critics love it and also why it gained the Oscar for best Documentary of 2014, truly complex in it's own kind of way.

Edward Snowden is not your typical hero and although his voice is heard in this, you still can't help feel bad for him even if he knew what was coming, with all the news reports heard in the background we really see Snowden's true reaction to what he has done. A warning I will give to film watchers who want to see chases or truly chilling tales, well this isn't going to get your spine tingling, well maybe in a kind of way but truth is this is one documentary for listening intently, not watching only.

Overall I gave it a 8/10 and felt it to be a safe 8, it is firmly very good and one documentary I couldn't recommended more, I even expected more and still found it very good. Give it a go and it has the power to blow your mind, if you see this you may just see the true scale of what the people who control your national interests, do to the people who elected them in the first place.

I've been poorly informed about everything regarding Snowden's activity. This great documentary for sure helped me to understand background behind his decisions and values along with many worldwide governments response.

The most important is that Laura Poitras kept everything under control in the way that Snowden's personality/character wasn't main thing, only his whistle blowing. She didn't allow herself to judge and criticize, rather pointed out different sources in an ostensive manner.

It is hard for me to express any amazement over this documentary in any way; it is very informative, brief, honest and visually appealing. Just as it should be. At the end, it isn't work of "art" (at least I didn't experience it in that way). It is work of great responsibility and brilliant intelligence.

This documentary concerns Edward Snowden's revelations about the United States' invading the privacy of everyone in the world, including U. S. citizens living only in the U. S. through monitoring of cellphone calls, email, internet searches, and basically through any electronic device upon which we have become dependent.

Laura Poitras and Glenn Greenwald were the two journalists to whom Snowden first revealed his disclosures. Citizenfour is the pseudonym Snowden first used in his contact with them before they met in Hong Kong. Poitras is a documentary journalist whom Snowden respected and trusted from her previous work, as he did Greenwald, a journalist for the Guardian newspaper in Great Britain. Ewen MacAskill from The Guardian also joined the other three in Hong Kong during those interviews. From his autobiography, we know he did not trust papers like the New York Times because they had succumbed to pressure from the government to suppress stories on similar privacy issues. There is considerable footage in the documentary from the days in Hong Kong when Snowden met with the journalists.

This is an excellent documentary. Snowden is incredibly articulate and persuasive in the points he makes. Some will squirm hearing how Barack Obama's use of drones in contradiction to his election pledges helped Snowden determine his need to be a whistle-blower.

"Citizenfour" should be required viewing for anyone wondering about the security of their electronic devices.

A documentarian (Laura P.) and a reporter (Glenn Greenwald) travel to Hong Kong for the first of many meetings with Edward Snowden.

Interestingly, Snowden seems full of paranoia and yet still brave enough to overcome it. Not that I doubt what he had to say about surveillance, but he definitely seemed overly cautious about ways the government could be tracking people at any time.

I learned that Glenn Greenwald is fluent in other languages (notably Portuguese), making him even a better journalist than already assumed. Hopefully this documentary gives him a nice boost and makes him a more widely-known name.

The appearance of Julian Assange was nice (Wikleaks seems to have been forgotten since Snowden). And Jeremy Scahill (one of the greatest humans I have ever met) was even better, though his spot was much too small.

The documentary was interesting and somewhat shocking, which is good for me, but I think the way the information was conveyed will be hard for most people to understand. Also, there are a lot of pointless scenes that seem like pure filler and character building moments. This isn't a movie, it's a documentary, Laura Poitras.

Speaking of Laura Poitras, it was incredibly annoying and a little confusing that she never introduced herself during the film and insisted on narrating it in first person, anyway. Still, pretty good for someone who's never directed a documentary before, if that is the case. I'm assuming it is bc that's what the evidence suggests.

The timing couldn't be more appropriate to watch this Oscar-winning fact-based documentary about the exclusive coverage of the man behind "PRISM Door", Edward Snowden and the repercussions afterwards, simply because under the present background of rampant terrorist attacks globally, whether or not each individual's privacy can be collectively sacrificed in exchange for a possible safeguard of personal safety?

It is really self-evident to see the controversy of the situation, the bare bones of the debate is principle Vs. exigency, which is all based on one presumption that we permit our governments to put surveillance on our daily activities of all the citizens, then all the terrorism can be maximally forestalled. If it is the case, how many of us is willing to do so, to forswear the civil liberty? There is a big question mark for this, since it is glaringly against the canon of democracy where all the Western countries are built upon. If we allow that to happen, it will become a huge setback in human history, more pointedly, surveillance may not be a fail-safe manoeuvre to counter terrorism at all, while its collateral damage would include many unimaginable infringements of each individual's personal interests, if all the data can be easily at a wrongdoer's disposal.

So, that's why we should stand on the same page with director Laura Poitras and her allies in the film, particularly at a time when the dark cloud of probable danger is hovering above everyone's head, we cannot lose our ground of the nitty-gritty. Largely intriguing human's innate proclivity of inquisitiveness, CITIZENFOUR cunningly proffers the first-hand exposé of Snowden when he hid in Hong Kong and contacted with journalist Glenn Greenwald and The Guardian reporter Ewen MacAskill to go through the scandalous disclosure, meanwhile simultaneously a camera is recording by Poitras on the spot. Now, since all the sensational hullabaloo has dissipated, one can be in a more poised state to watch this film, not just the big picture, we can get a preview of what's inside a man like Snowden, his entire process of "coming out". Poitras selectively and disinterestedly lays out a quite frank introduction of him, what he did is indisputably courageous, but also, as a whistle-blower, he is not "the chosen one", if it were not him, as a matter of time, sooner or later there would be another conscience-aware insider to speak out, the scheme of NSA (USA National Security Agency) is simply too massive to cover, thus more crucially, we should turn our target to them and fish out how that plan can be engineered through all the bureaucracy, yet, this is far from a perfect world, at least for now, the answer is moot.

After Snowden left Hong Kong, Poitras' camera can no longer focus on him but on Greenwald and others, whom she has approach to film, what happens doesn't register the same intensity, since anyone who has a healthy common-sense knows which side we should lean on. There is a final reel of watching Snowden's life with his girlfriend in Moscow, no close-up, but medium-shot, soon the film also brings down its curtain, savours of a tad dissatisfaction.

As one interviewee mentions, Snowden's whole adventure sounds like a John le Carré novel, so surreal but it is indeed a cast-iron fact, Poitras' documentary serves best as an awareness- agitating gateway to invite us to inspect our own government and resist the temptation of a pipe dream - there is no deus ex machina in solving a deep-rooted social problem. With regard to cinephiles, this film might as well serve as an inviting amuse-gueule for the upcoming Oliver Stone's adaptation, starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, let's wish it will be at least remotely le Carré- esque in light of Stone's recent patchy productions.

Citizenfour

The upside to the government monitoring your Internet use is they'll have your passwords when you forget them.

Mind you, the whistler-blower in this documentary doesn't see the benefits to Big Brother.

Documentary filmmaker Laura Poitras receives an encoded email from Citizen Four claiming they have evidence the government has been monitoring American citizens Internet/phone use since 9/11.

Along with journalists Glenn Greenwald and Ewen MacAskill, Poitras goes to Hong Kong to meet the informant who turns out to be an NSA employee: Edward Snowden.

As his identity is leaked to the media, Poitras is there to capture the epic fallout first-hand.

While its predominantly shots of talking heads and redacted files, it's the content concerning the loss of privacy that makes Citizenfour the most important documentary in American history.

Incidentally, the only thing the government learned from spying on citizens was they lie on their online dating profiles.

Green Light

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Nothing is more heroic and more courageous than a simple person's decision to brave a much stronger world to do what he believes to be the right thing. He must face his own nervousness, instability, and fears, and he still does it unblinkingly. Here is what this documentary feature shows us through a portion of life of the 29-year-old Edward Snowden, whose revelation of the US domination in the world is only thunderous and earth-shattering. We look at the innocent and childlike face and personality of Mr. Snowden and we start to have difficulty breathing as we see extreme dangers awaiting him at every exit. The film shows us how he decides to turn his back on his job as a commissioned security specialist of the US government, determines to go public with what he knows and has in possession, and works with two veteran reporters to explain his viewpoint and action calmly and patiently, until we the viewer understand the philosophy behind his action. The film successfully protects Mr. Snowden from being demonized beyond recognition from the powers that be, who want Mr. Snowden to appear treacherous, unpatriotic, and mentally ill, in order to discredit his revelation and probably his entire life and existence. Still, Mr. Snowden, at times in tear and stressful, looks at his dangerous task in the eye. He realizes that death for him is not impossible, and he continues to assure us that others will step in and succeed him, if the succession is indeed a must. Quite serenely, the film ends in Mr. Snowden's own country. A place called uncharted territory. Thank you, Mr. Snowden, for distinguishing us human from animals.