We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks

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A Lot or a Little?
The parents' guide to what's in this movie.
What Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks is an intense survey of one of the most controversial information "leaks" in recent history. Oscar-winning documentarian Alex Gibney tells the story of two men: Australian WikiLeaks founder/visionary/hacker Julian Assange and American soldier/computer whiz Bradley Manning, who is, by all accounts, the whistleblower responsible for leaking thousands of confidential videos and memos to Assange's "anonymous" online dropbox. There's grim violence, particularly in the leaked war footage, that's too disturbing for younger audiences, as well as strong language ("f--k," "a--hole," etc.) and references to sex and sexual coercion. Viewers need to be mature enough to handle the movie's difficult themes and issues and to figure out what they believe about the secrets and lies discussed in the documentary.
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What's the Story?
In WE STEAL SECRETS: THE STORY OF WIKILEAKS, prolific Academy Award-winning documentarian Alex Gibney follows the fascinating and highly mythologized story of the infamous WikiLeaks scandal by alternating the focus between Australian hacker-turned-activist Julian Assange and young, emotionally fragile Army whistleblower Bradley Manning. Gibney explores the motivations behind the WikiLeaks site -- an anonymous, highly secure dropbox for classified documents and information -- and Manning's need to not only share thousands of top-secret military and diplomatic files (including the "Collateral Murder" clip of an American strike that killed civilians) with Assange but also to reveal himself as the leak to another hacker, Adrian Lamo, who eventually turned Manning in (he's now imprisoned). The docu also probes into the secrets that Assange wasn't willing to spill -- like the truth about the sexual coercion case against him in Sweden.
Is It Any Good?
A documentary about the highly revered (or reviled, depending on your stance) Assange and Manning is clearly in the very capable Gibney's wheelhouse as a nonfiction storyteller. Gibney has tackled incredibly tough subjects in his career as a filmmaker -- the war in Afghanistan (Taxi to the Dark Side), corrupt super-lobbyist Jack Abramoff (Casino Jack and the United States of Money), and the child-abuse scandals in the Catholic Church (Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God). Here, he manages to present a balanced view of all the people involved in the scandal and finds articulate international hackers and transparency journalists who fervently believe in WikiLeaks' mission to give people access to the truth -- however horrifying those truths might be to the general public.
Although Assange's ardent supporters may think Gibney has villainized the Aussie, the provocateur does that all by himself by not allowing the filmmaker to interview him directly (although there's more than enough additional footage of Assange to fill the documentary). Gibney spends more than two hours giving audiences a look at the timeline and the events of the story -- and also pulling back the curtain on the many myths surrounding Assange (particularly the idea that the two Swedish women who filed a sexual coercion case against him were somehow tied to the CIA or other international forces, a claim that Gibney found no evidence to support). No one emerges as a pure hero or bad guy, but, at the very least, Manning, who's the one in prison, comes off as highly sensitive and in some ways just a young broken soul desperate to make people understand the ugly truth of war and national security.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about whether We Steal Secrets portrays its subjects objectively or with any bias. Do documentaries have to be subjective?
How does the filmmaker debunk some of the myths surrounding the WikiLeaks story? What did you learn about the people involved?
Discuss the idea of Mendax, Assange's old hacker name, and how it applies to him now. Do you think he's "nobly untruthful"? Is he portrayed as a villain, a visionary, or a bit of both?
Do you think the potential cost of exposing secrets (imprisonment, retaliation) is worth it if the global citizenry can know what's really going on in a war or behind the scenes in corporations, the government, or international relations?
Does We Steal Secrets make you respect hackers? Why or why not? What do you think of Adrian Lamo? Do you think he trapped Manning by befriending him, or do you believe he was in what he called a "no-win situation"?
Movie Details
- In theaters: May 24, 2013
- On DVD or streaming: September 10, 2013
- Cast: Adrian Lamo, Bradley Manning, Julian Assange
- Director: Alex Gibney
- Studio: Focus Features
- Genre: Documentary
- Topics: History
- Run time: 130 minutes
- MPAA rating: R
- MPAA explanation: some disturbing violent images, language and sexual material
- Last updated: March 31, 2022
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