Showing @ Filmhouse, Edinburgh, Sun 30 Sep only
Patrick Forbes / Germany / 2011 / 75 min
It’s arguable whether we have come to use (or even understand) the Internet properly, but it’s doubtless that its potential for change has been tested in recent years. The Scottish première of Patrick Forbes’ documentary examines the information war via one of the biggest news stories of the digital age: WikiLeaks. It’s a dense retrospective that studies the events leading to the publication of classified diplomatic cables, and the aftermath of the exposé.
Including interviews with the New York Times, Guardian and Der Spiegel, the documentary is a well-informed examination of the relationship between public interest in information and the media. The first major interview with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange opens the film, and recurs throughout, his answers and opinions creating the spine of the film while apache footage is used to powerful effect.
Simon Rodgers is quoted in fellow Guardian journalist David Leigh’s book: ‘The WikiLeaks story was a combination of … traditional journalistic skills and the power of technology, harnessed to tell an amazing story… The world has changed and it is data that has changed it.’ While Rodgers seems to have grasped how – and why – there are differences in the way we work and think since the release of the cables, Forbes’ film seems reluctant to make that point. It does, however, look at the impact the rape allegations on Assange have had on the WikiLeaks saga and delves (briefly) into the story of Bradley Manning, the accused whistleblower. Although compiling an interesting history, the film seems – as does most media – to be preoccupied with how the cables came to light, rather than why. When we do begin to focus our attention on that, the secrets and lies that are exposed then will make for much more fascinating viewing.
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