Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Daniel Brühl, Carice van Houten
Director: Bill Condon
Country: USA | Belgium
Genre:Biography | Drama | Thriller
Official Website: Here
Editor’s Notes: The Fifth Estate opens wide theatrically today.
Prejudgment is inherent to the current state of films. As we are bathed in posters and lambasted with trailers, audiences often determine how they feel about films, sight unseen. The quiet appraisals that we conduct from our living rooms are overshadowed by those that have a soapbox to stand on. Last year, Spike Lee decried the use of a certain racial epithet in Django Unchained and now, many crewmembers of the Maersk Alabama are voicing their opposition to Captain Phillips; but in both cases whether or not the opposed have actually seen the film in question seems to be ignored. Unsurprisingly, The Fifth Estate can expect no support from its subject, but having read an early script, at least Julian Assange has a vague idea as to why and I am tempted to agree.
The very nature of films inspired by real events is difficult. For a film to simply recount events seems wasteful, and determining the importance or method in which the story fits into the greater history is all the more difficult.
Daniel Berg (Daniel Brühl) is a computer programmer, bored in his current job. His exceptional computer skills equip him as an adept hacker with a wondering eye. As he peruses the internet, he happens upon a small website, WikiLeaks, set to expose the unheard truths of the world. While attending a technology convention, Daniel has a chance meeting with Julian Assange (Benedict Cumberbatch), the head of the site. After helping Julian get a presentation spot, the two find themselves with like sensibilities. By the end of the night, Daniel has joined Julian and they set out to change the world’s view on truth.
The very nature of films inspired by real events is difficult. For a film to simply recount events seems wasteful, and determining the importance or method in which the story fits into the greater history is all the more difficult. The greatest aid can be time. Thusly, there is an inherent apprehension to true-story films only slightly removed from their actual occurrence. It seems that as soon as some massive event takes place, the studio executives are already planning the film adaptation. In an interview with Film School Rejects, screenwriter of Rush, Peter Morgan, spoke to this phenomenon. In reference to these biopics with quick turnarounds he makes the point, “if you’re so close to those events you can only report the events”.[i] The Fifth Estate suffers greatly from this requisite reporting.
The script is a slave to the events, spending so long recounting as much as possible that it fails to actually say anything. There is a deep debate to be had as to where WikiLeaks should belong in the grand scheme things. Writer Josh Singer barely even approaches the subject. When attempts are made to show the ethical and moral complexity of the situation and its participants, it is done as a binary when a gradient is decidedly more appropriate. Julian Assange suffers the most in this. Director Bill Condon is unsure as to how to show the man, switching from visionary leader to egomaniacal madman with dizzying frequency. Rather than being a film about WikiLeaks, it ultimately becomes a film about the relationship between Assange and Berg, which wouldn’t be a bad thing, if it had something of note to contribute. What is delivered is a derivative buddy relationship, a coupling of socially-inept visionary and level-headed provider that is far too simplistic to be authentic.
Onscreen, the performances exude nothing but confidence. Benedict Cumberbatch portrays Assange with the expected expertise, capturing the necessary look and voice without it feeling like an ungainly shackle. Cumberbatch’s performance is the more bombastic, but Daniel Brühl, who skillfully outshone Chris Hemsworth in Rush, continues to slyly steal the show.
Onscreen, the performances exude nothing but confidence. Benedict Cumberbatch portrays Assange with the expected expertise, capturing the necessary look and voice without it feeling like an ungainly shackle. Cumberbatch’s performance is the more bombastic, but Daniel Brühl, who skillfully outshone Chris Hemsworth in Rush, continues to slyly steal the show. His character is shaded with more nuance, something that can most likely be attributed to the film utilizing the actual Daniel Berg’s book as a basis. As such, Brühl is able to invoke much more depth than Cumberbatch. If any good is to come from The Fifth Estate, it will be the cementation of Brühl as an actor that deserves to be noticed. If this is what he is capable of delivering under serviceable direction and a far from exceptional script, then we deserve to see him under much better circumstances.
Theatrical film cannot be a medium to only report the events that have occurred. Regardless of whether or not it is based in fact, a film should have something to say. The Fifth Estate does not. The effects of WikiLeaks continue to be felt. The repercussions of the truths it unveiled and its catalytic effect on our understanding of available information is ever changing, so to state emphatically what it all means is a fool’s errand. Although bolstered by strong performances from Benedict Cumberbatch and Daniel Brühl, the film struggles to find a voice. Relying on headlines and underdeveloped relationships, the screenplay is a bastion of avoidance. Even on his major subject, Julian Assange, director Bill Condon is unsure of how best to present him. As The Fifth Estate comes to a close, Cumberbatch as Assange remarks on its very existence, scoffing at the ridiculous concept of developing a film so soon. It is an odd moment to close on, simultaneously minimizing and celebrating WikiLeaks that serves as a summary of the film as a whole; a last ditch effort to have its cake and eat it too.
[notification type=”star”]60/100 ~ MEDIOCRE. Theatrical film cannot be a medium to only report the events that have occurred. Regardless of whether or not it is based in fact, a film should have something to say. The Fifth Estate does not.[/notification]
[i] Morgan, Peter. “‘Rush’ Screenwriter Peter Morgan’s 10-Year Rule for Biopics.” Film School Rejects. 27 September 2013. Web. 17 October 2013.
