The Fifth Estate (2013)

A few months ago, I sat back and watched Underground: the Julian Assange Story, a movie focused on the early career of one of the most famous hackers known. I should have stopped there. While I do support the whistleblowers and what Assange stands for, I cannot sit back and watch him and his efforts be drug through the mud by an agenda driven Hollywood establishment. That is exactly what is happening here in The Fifth Estate.

Plot/ A dramatic thriller based on real events that reveals the quest to expose the deceptions and corruptions of power that turned an Internet upstart into the 21st century's most fiercely debated organization.

I rented this thinking it was going to be a biopic, focusing on Assange and WikiLeaks. Unfortunately, while that is what it was called, it was more of a propaganda piece directed toward attacking Assange and further polluting the waters against him. Like him or not, his ideologies make sense, and he should be supported. This film is way too complex for what was trying to be portrayed. Based on multiple books (by legal enemies’ none-the-less) the disjointed feel is apparent from the start. There were some decent acting moments and a couple of decent visuals, but mostly it was a dialog driven and complex political thriller with an agenda. In the end, this movie is nothing close to Underground:  the Julian Assange Story, which talked about his early life and first major hack, that movie has a soul. This one is an agenda driven propaganda fest and should be skipped!