We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks

I didn't know much about Assange or Wikileaks or Private Manning. I remember little things from the news, but this was a solid documentary on the subject. A good history of Wikileaks, and a thoughtful film that poses interesting questions.

I didn't know much about Assange or Wikileaks or Private Manning. I remember little things from the news, but this was a solid documentary on the subject. A good history of Wikileaks, and a thoughtful film that poses interesting questions.

A non-stop scary and disturbing and crazy expose that is so great it should have been nominated for the Oscar. A wild documentary that is one of the best ones of the 2010s and of 2013 along with Blackfish. I believe i've only seen 2 documentaries from 2013 those two but anyway We Steal Secrets is just great.

it doesn't matter if you agree or even interested in the subject of Alex Gibney's documentaries. The way he approaches and presents the stories, make his films very interesting!!

Informative, longer than it needed to be, but still fairly impartial. Interesting to watch.

Another superlative documentary by Alex Gibney. Over two hours it investigates the psychology and slippery morality of those who whistleblow and those who publish leaks, together with the fallout for governments and individuals. The main focus of course is Julian Assange, whose singular achievement appears to be how he has successfully alienated former colleagues and increasingly isolated himself. Compulsive.

Like most of prolific director Alex Gibney's documentaries, We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks is serious-minded, but breezy and easily digested-it deserves much more than simply being called "the WikiLeaks movie." Gibney has a nack for efficient storytelling that entertains as much as it informs, and his take on the enigmatic Julian Assange is a film that, for the most part, fires on all cylinders. You'll notice a trend among Gibney's filmography-the more obscure or unknown the story is, the more satisfying the film seems. In that respect, We Steal Secrets, as well-made as it is, ranks alongside something like Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer, rather than upper-tier Gibney films like Mea Maxima Culpa or Taxi to the Dark Side. That said, Gibney is one of the leaders of his field, and even lesser Gibney is worthy of your time. As you might expect from a film of this title, We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks is about the start of the controversial website WikiLeaks and the rise and fall of its founder, Julian Assange. Gibney is nothing if not even-handed in his depiction of Assange-a hard attitude to have for a man some call a hero and others call a traitor and a sexual deviant, as well as a man who declined an on-camera interview for the film when Gibney wouldn't pay him a $1 million appearance fee. But we join Assange's story around the time WikiLeaks was first established. He and his site started getting noticed after leaking some secretive documents that showed the owners of Iceland's Kaupthing Bank took large sums of money out of the bank just before it went under. The scandal caused a national uproar, and it gave Assange his first real taste of power. It also gave him a home and an infrastructure. He set up shop in Iceland, where he was beloved by many and connected with hacker extraordinaire Daniel Domscheit-Berg, who'd soon become his #2. But it wasn't until 2010 that WikiLeaks would become an internationally recognized brand, Assange an internationally recognized name. WikiLeaks got its hands on a video of American soldiers in Iraq shooting down a group that included several Iraqi civilians, two Reuters journalists, and two Iraqi children on their way to school (the children were wounded, the others killed). The tape came from an American soldier, Bradley Manning, who had a great deal of computer knowledge and expertise, and over the next year or so, Manning would leak thousands upon thousands of classified documents through WikiLeaks. The tape was WikiLeaks' biggest coup, and while it gave Assange a wider platform than ever before, it was also the beginning of the end for him. He became increasingly paranoid, even going so far as to let Domscheit-Berg go after accusing him of undermining their organization. Charges were brought against him in Sweden after two women came forward with similar stories about Assange deliberately ripping his condom during sex. He holed up in an English manor for some time before finding asylum at the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where he remains today. That's the CliffsNotes version of We Steal Secrets, but Gibney's film is packed with the kind of character details that make this much more fascinating than your average social studies lesson. Take Manning, for example. I never knew he was undergoing hormone therapy because he (sometimes) believed he was meant to be a woman. The digital relationship he forged with hacker Adrian Lamo is powerful. Manning was very much alone when he reached out to Lamo and told him everything. His new friend, however, recognized the potential problems he could face if he kept all of Manning's secrets. Not only that, he wasn't totally sure he believed in what Manning was doing. He breaks down late in the film, obviously torn up over the way he breached Manning's trust. It can't help, of course, knowing Manning was tortured while being held at Quantico-arguably the most egregious act committed by anyone in this entire saga. As far as Assange goes, he's never far from the action, and while he might not be the most complicated or interesting character in this sordid story, he's certainly the instigator-in-chief. It's not hard to see why Bill Condon saw fit to make this story into a narrative feature-this fall's The Fifth Estate, starring Benedict Cumberbatch as Assange. Whatever that film adds to the conversation, however, is just gravy. We Steal Secrets is a wholly successful documentary that's worthy of both this larger-than-life tale and its director's sterling filmography. http://www.johnlikesmovies.com/wikileaks-movie-review/

Otro poderoso punto de vista de Gibney, esta vez sobre la leyenda de Mendax y como lo han convertido en un loco paranoico. Increíble ver como se puede manipular tanto a la masa para que cosas tan graves como las denunciadas por Wikileaks pasen desapercibidas y su promotor termine encarcelado en una embajada ecuatoriana.

We Steal Secrets doesn't carry the same punch or investigative depth that make Gibeny's docs so compelling. It's an interesting look at a flawed man, albeit too unidimensional for those who studied Assange and his work. Still, it offers plenty of thought-provoking material that make the film a relevant entry in Gibney's filmography.

I'm a huge Alex Gibney fan, but this film remains my least favorite of his due to its heavily lopsided perspective on WikiLeaks, built primarily through the eyes of its former employees and opponents.