The Fifth Estate
Directed by Bill Condon
Distributed by Walt Disney Studio Motion Pictures
Ever since Julian Assange walked onto the world stage when his organization Wikileaks published thousands of confidential US military documents in 2010, the debate over transparency and censorship has been pushed to the front of many peoples’ minds.
The Fifth Estate attempts to capture the story behind Assange’s rise to fame and the headline-breaking events collected around the Wikileaks story.
There is potential for a standout film in The Fifth Estate, but far too many negatives bring down an otherwise fantastic film for it to really be something special.
Still, by the end The Fifth Estate will have you questioning whether or not Wikileaks is recklessly putting people’s lives at risk or if it is paving the way for more transparent governments that are held accountable for their actions.
Benedict Cumberbatch does a superb job portraying Assange as an inspirational and brilliant thinker while maintaining a unique aura behind his personality.
Daniel Berg (Daniel Brühl) portrays a hacker savant who gains Assange’s trust and tries to hold Wikileaks together through the trials of their partnership. Berg is the primary character and serves as a relatable conduit for the audience to counter balance Assange’s larger than life persona.
The film does a great job of building the relationship between Berg and Assange while maintaining enough distance between them to suit the inevitable impact of their conflicting visions.
Unfortunately, there is far too much wasted time spent on underdeveloped side plots, such as a long, potentially exciting sequence of United States government officials (played by Laura Linney, Anthony Mackie, and Stanley Tucci) trying to get an informant out of Libya before Assange’s leaks put him in danger.
I couldn’t help but feel these three characters’ sections were underdeveloped and wasted their potential. While it is interesting to get the outside context and see the consequences caused by Wikileaks with these events, these sideshows ultimately distracted from the film’s strengths.
The film would have been better served if it didn’t feel the need to be rushed into every seedy hacker den in Europe or fast-paced computer-typing montage to be able to coherently explain what is happening.
If you’re interested in the topics The Fifth Estate is trying to cultivate debate over you will enjoy the film—as long as you have the ability to put up with some shoddy pacing and tedious side plots.
Those looking for a good character drama or a clear and coherent retelling of Assange’s exploits will probably be bored halfway through the film’s needlessly lengthy runtime.
