The Crimefile News review of The Fifth Estate

Berlin, Germany—The Wikileaks massive document dumps exposing mass government deception and corruption inspired this film. 

Apparently fugitive blogger/hacker Julian Assange somehow got ahold of the script and completely hated what he’d read in this Dreamworks project.

Hundred of thousands of cablegrams were intercepted and forwarded to the Wikileaks organization.  The material was censored before it was published by various news organizations.  Wikileaks went ahead and posted the raw material on line for the entire world to examine.

The biggest issue was the material provided by Army private Bradley Manning.  Was manning a spy or a whistleblower?  I think the answer lies in the corruption and deception by our own government.  Manning is doing some serious time over his role.  Frankly I’m on his side of this argument.  Americans have a right to know when their elected officials are engaging in deception to us. 

The scriptwriters took liberties with the story and I’m ignorant of the details that were twisted by these scribes.   The mainstream media engaged in their usual methods to protect their politicians.  The established media no longer controls the message because thousands of bloggers like me have pushed them aside in recent years.

As for the film production it was terrific.  I loved the material shot on location in Germany, Belgium, Netherlands and Switzerland.  I’m so very fond of those European nations.   There is a really terrific night scene shot from the roof of Berlin’s Dome Church that I visited in 2011.  I actually found an iPhone someone left on a pew that I quickly turned it in for a happy owner.

The acting by Benedict Cumberbatch (Assange) was terrific as his former “crime partner” Daniel Bruhl (Daniel Berg) was great.  I’m a huge fan of Laura Linney (Sarah Shaw) who delivered in her State Department role along with veteran actor Stanley Tucci  (James Boswell). 

van Houten and Linney

I’m a total fan of the talented Carice van Houten (Birgitta Jónsdóttir).  Van Houten portrayed a member of Iceland’s Parliament and the publicist for Assanage.  I must confess that I found that the Jónsdóttir roll did not offer van Houten a chance to display her terrific gifts of emotional interpretation.  Nonetheless I did enjoy watching her bring the pages of her script to life.

If you like Europe’s terrific eye-candy and culture this film is for you.  The only problems that I see is that the ignorant movie going masses are totally apathetic to government corruption and deception. That is the kind of ignorance that allows for fascism and tyranny.  Apparently most Americans would rather worry about the interracial relationships of the Kardashian bimbos. 

I liked the film and will add the Blu-Ray DVD to my collection.  The photography and special effects were somewhat groundbreaking. 

On a side note I want very much to see Carice van Houten in the kind of roles that better test her abilities. I want to see this lovely Dutch lass walk the Red-Oscar Carpet.   As an SAG-AFTRA actor myself, I’d be thrilled to play a scene or two with Van Houten.  Someone needs to cast me as her father or perhaps boss.

I have a script with a starring role for van Houten and I’d love to play her character’s lawyer.  I guess I will have to keep on dreaming.

WikiLeaks and Julian Paul Assange Traitor or Hero?

Berlin, Germany – On a soundstage here filming has begun on the WikiLeaks story.  It surrounds a reporter, Julian Assange who apparently hacked and captured tons of secret government communications. He soon released them to the world.  

To no one’s surprise the governments involved have mislead the world of their agendas and conduct.   America has been running a secret government and gotten involved in dubious wars that our citizens know little about. 

We learned from Assange and his cohorts that our politicians cannot be trusted.  For his revelations Assange should be a hero.  Letting the world know about the lies, distortions and reality should have brought about political revolt. Instead ignorant Americans continue follow their Judas Goat straight to Hell.

My favorite actress, Carice van Houten is playing the spokeswoman for Assange and his group.  I know the film will be good and hopefully it will enlighten the world.

I’ve been ashamed of the wholesale deception, fraud and criminality of my own government for years.  Our government does not reflect the values of the citizens I know anymore. We must begin to hold those politicians in our government accountable.  Frankly we need to find ways to appoint special prosecutors to go after these miscreants.

Julian Assange Exists because of Government’s Lies and Damn Lies

London, UK—This sad saga began when a non-mainstream journalist, Julian Assange obtained a huge amount of undeniable government records and simply published them.  They pertain to the conduct of governments we expect to he honorable, forthright and free. 

Primarily the UK and the U.S. lied to their citizens and the world about the issues that led to two wars and thousands of American lives.  We all know that it’s our politicians that send our children off to fight their adventures.  Politicians must rely on public support and to gain that support time and time again through history they use lies and propaganda to achieve their means.  

Politicians are serial liars by their very nature.  We all have the liars we prefer but we never demand they tell the truth. 

A nation like Switzerland need not fear disclosure of their efforts because that nation is not ever involved with policing the world with their ideals. 

Unfortunately the United States is run by a bunch of politicians that always gain personal profit for their misconduct.  War is always profitable for our politicians even when they can’t win. 

The role of a journalist is not to protect governments, but to tell the world just what their governments are doing.  Famed writer, George Orwell that I quoted above also said, “"Journalism is printing what someone else does not want printed; everything else is public relations."

Julian Assange has taken great personal risk to do his job.  He’s embarrassed politicians worldwide and now they want to make him pay simply because he did his job.  There is an incredibly huge paradox, the nations screaming the loudest are the ones that claim they have freedom of the press.

I feel uncomfortable joining the ranks of Michael Moore, Danny Glover and assorted Left Wing radicals that have come out in support to Julian Assange.  I dare to say that the founding fathers of this great nation would have supported him too.

We must demand truthfulness, transparency and accountability of our government no matter what political animal or party is in charge.

It’s a total farce that the UK has placed a ring of 40 cops around the Ecuadorean embassy 24/7 to nab Assange if he tries to leave.  Ecuador has done the right thing here and I salute them in the name of freedom.