The Fifth Estate

I did not follow the story of Wikileaks, when the story of Julian Assange came out in public. But i still found this story interesting when i realised how much Wikileaks leaked out information. Some people see Julian Assange as a criminal, some see him as a hero. Personally i think he might have gone too far. I understand he wanted the truth to come out, but with truth there comes a price to pay. The Fifth Estate is a motion picture based on the life of Julian Assange. This is not the first time we see the story about mr Assange, there are other movie adaptions out there. But this one have Benedict Cumberbatch, you know who he is right ? The latest Sherlock Holmes, also the villain in Star Trek Into Darkness. One of the best british actors in many years, he can do any character into his own unique personality. So, when i Heard he was going to be Julian Assange, i got hooked up right away. With such a great actor in this important story, is The Fifth Estate as good as i hoped, or is this a fast produced history lesson with nothing else to say ?

In 2007, journalist Daniel Domscheit-Berg ( Daniel Brühl ) meets Australian computer hacker Julian Assange ( Benedict Cumberbatch ). They meet in Berlin, as they become close friends. Daniel learn more about the ideas of Julian, that he want to reveal information to the world about corrupted people and criminal leaders. So they decide to start Wikileaks, an information web site that reveal classified information, not meant to be seen by ordinary people. As the web site become larger, and find more readers, they continue to reveal more information that should not be seen by anyone. While Julian Assange become famous world wide for his web site, he is also hated by world leaders. One of the first big stories revealed on Wikileaks is private Swiss bank Julius Bär Group Ltd, with information published that the bank have been doing illegal activites. Wikileaks is in trouble, as well as Julian Assange, but he manage to not get arrested. But problems begin to grown. When United States Army soldier Bradley Manning release leaks hundreds of thousands of documents, videos from Baghdad, Afghan and Iraq War Logs, where you see innocent people are killed by military. This becomes so serious, the american government becomes furious about Bradley´s publication. The friendship between Daniel and Julian becomes more problematic, when Julian is becoming more suspicious about people and who he can trust. But Julian decide he should continue doing what needs to be done, more people need to know the truth, even if he could be arrested.

It is sad that The Fifth Estate become one of the biggest box office flops of 2013. On a budget of 26 million dollars, it only grossed 8,5 million dollars world wide. But this is not as bad as you might think, Benedict Cumberbatch shows once again why he is such a great actor ( even if this is not one of his best performances ). And the story of Wikileaks is actually interesting, because the web site showed that there are ways to reveal criminal acts from powerful people. I have read other reviews saying that this is a pretty boring motion picture. There are some boring scenes, but i can´t say i lost interest in the story. Director Bill Condon ( who directed 2 movies i hated, The Twilight Saga Breaking Dawn Part 1, and Part 2 ) have actually managed to do something good with this story. There are flaws, but he have tried to make this more of a european stylish movie, without the typical american cliché photography. I have to say i admire he could move on after making those shitty Twilight movies, and do this. That is worth a big applause. The Fifth Estate is not a motion picture for everyone, this is more for people who enjoy deep stories based on true historical events. You may not change your personal opinion on Julian Assange, but i suggest you see this one and make up your own mind. Internet is a powerful tool, you realise that after watching The Fifth Estate.

Rating: DDD