Citizenfour

Courtesy of Radius-TWC, HBO Films, Participant Films, Praxis Films

John Oliver recently interviewed Edward Snowden, in Russia, for a segment on his HBO show "Last Week Tonight." In short the interview simplifyed information surrounding the intelligence agencies' reach into our private lives, the data that Snowden leaked when he became a whistleblower, and how it affects our daily lives. The interview was spawned from an intelligent, beyond tense, and well directed documentary that recently won the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature, named "Citizenfour."

 That interview covered the impact of Snowden's work. This documentary shows the real-time leaking of official documents, when Snowden provided them to journalist Glenn Greenwald, who reported on our government's use of technology to spy on the American people in "The Guardian." Much of this film takes place inside a hotel room as Snowden deals with the tricky situation of revealing himself as a whistleblower, disclosing the reach of intelligence agencies and the lack of privacy Americans are facing in this modern technological age. We also get to see Greenwald's unveiling of this information, and the tension mounting for both him and the director, Laura Poitras, who were tailed and tracked by the US government after this information was leaked.

 Oliver revealed that many people weren't aware of just what Snowden had exposed to the American public, or what he had actually given up in letting people know the actions of the government. This documentary has made people aware, let them know that yes, our information is being sold, stored, and kept by government agencies. Websites with huge reach are giving it to them. People who aren't suspected of terrorism (the old standard for surveillance under the Patriot Act) are being monitored. Privacy is not separate from freedom.

 For his heroism, Snowden has been ridiculed, hunted, and slandered by everyone from the American public to the President of the United States. However you feel about Snowden, what he did was heroic. He has carefully sieved through the information he took, unlike Assange who released it all, to our detriment. Snowden is now in Russia, on a three year asylum. He has given up his life so that we can take a good long look at our own. This documentary doesn’t reveal these sacrifices, only lets you as the public know, that what happened, happened, and for good reason.