《時代周刊》：2014十大最佳電影

8.Citizenfour

8.《第四公民》

Calling himself Citizenfour, Edward Snowden sent encrypted email messages to doc filmmaker Laura Poitras that hinted at extraordinary revelations about the National Security Agency’s database on U.S. citizens. In a Hong Kong hotel room in June 2013, the Booz Allen IT analyst met Poitras and journalists Glenn Greenwald and Ewen MacAskill to spill his and his computer’s guts. The subject of this fascinating, edifying and creepy film has a nerdish star quality: poised and articulate, he’s also more than a little anxious. Snowden correctly anticipates what’s in store for him — official pariah status in the U.S. — and makes clear that the need for the public to know the range of NSA eavesdropping is worth the price he will pay. The glare of Poitras’s camera gives the young man a ghostly pallor; he could be a specter reaching out from the other side to warn the living. A true-life spy thriller and horror movie,Citizenfouris also history in the making: a portrait of a man at the very moment he chooses to enrich and darken Americans’ understanding of what their government knows about them.

自稱“第四公民”的愛德華·斯諾登將加密的電子郵件發給紀錄片導演羅拉·柏翠絲，揭露了美國國家安全局監控美國民眾的數據庫，進而轟動全球。2013年6月，斯諾登在一家香港的賓館里與柏翠絲和《衛報》記者格侖·格林沃德見面，全然吐露了“棱鏡門”事件的來源去脈。這部影片精彩又不失啟迪，但也讓人有些毛骨悚然。平靜鎮定和能言善辯的斯諾登在該片中顯得十分擔憂，展現了一絲“極客”的呆氣。他正確預測了自己將在美國政界遭受四面楚歌的命運，還清楚地表示，為了能夠讓美國民眾了解他們被國家安全局竊聽的范圍之廣，他付出任何代價都是值得的。斯諾登在攝像機的光下顯得幽靈般的蒼白，好似一個從另一個時空穿越而來，警示著蕓蕓眾生。《第四公民》不僅是一部真實的諜戰片，更是一部正在發生著的歷史。它刻畫了一個男人，在關鍵的節點義無反顧地選擇了曝光政府行為。斯諾登的選擇，讓每個美國人明白了政府實際上有多“了解”他們，并跌入了失望的深淵。