For a film centered on such a controversial figure, “The Fifth Estate” has surprisingly little to tell viewers about Julian Assange that they do not already know.
Director Bill Condon (“Twilight: Breaking Dawn – Part 2”) and screenwriter Josh Singer (“Fringe”) have a hard time creating a compelling account about Wikileaks, Assange or whistleblowers. The movie flows as a steady chronology, with no real additional substance or perspective. “The Fifth Estate” tries so hard to be neutral, that at times it feels as though the facts are distorted just so that filmmakers seem unbiased. However, in doing so, some of the important context behind the decisions that Assange and others made in real life are left out in the movie, and in turn the movie projects a false narrative.
Benedict Cumberbatch (“Sherlock”) as Assange is a strong choice, but unfortunately the contrived script means that he is limited from performing his full potential. The most interesting character, which is not saying much for this movie, is Daniel Domscheit-Berg who is one of Assange’s closest partners. Berg is played by Daniel Bruhl (“Rush”), who gives a static but decent performance. Most of the movie is told from the perspective of Berg. Although Berg acts as a go to lens for viewers, it prevents a fully in depth look at Assange.
Perhaps the biggest problem with “The Fifth Estate” is a lack of strategic focus. Almost three-fourths of the movie is simply Assange and Berg typing away behind their computers with meaningless code appearing on the screen. While it is true that the very foundations of Wikileaks involve computers, scenes of mindless hacking are not entertaining, educational or useful.
The movie spends too much time on unimportant material and not enough on the events that made Assange and Wikileaks front-page news in the first place. The film wastes first half establishing the background for Wikileaks itself and what it is, instead of focusing on a younger Assange and the more mysterious parts of his origin.
Concurrently, a lot of unnecessary attention is given to undeveloped personal relationships, such as the one between Berg and his girlfriend, most of which go nowhere. It would have been nice to see more time centered on Assange and his actions during rise of Wikileaks. For a film covering an ongoing person and phenomenon, it’s important to capture the big moments that define the subject. When the major moments are retold in the film, they are brief and lack the weight that should make them important to audiences.
Another major flaw in the film is that the story is about Assange’s “cult of personality” and not the man himself. Throughout the film, various depictions of Assange are shown through the perspective of different elites, ranging from government officials to news organizations to Assange’s own friends. Despite these different viewpoints, the opinions of the public at large are never depicted.
Overall, the movie raises some interesting questions but gives no answers on its own. Even a casual awareness of Assange and Wikileaks provides just as much information as most of “The Fifth Estate” itself. The one thing the movie does get right though, is that only time can tell how history will view Julian Assange.
