Benedict Cumberbatch

Julian Assange

If a movie makes me think about its subject matter 24 hours after seeing it, I say that’s an excellent film. The Fifth Estate made me repeatedly think about how news is always being altered in order to please the owners of its publishing empires versus the harm that could come to people and countries if the information is distributed without any filters.

The Fifth Estate is about the controversial whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange. The critics gave the film a low rating of just one star. Variety said it would barely reach $4 million in its opening weekend and that it’s one of the worst DreamWorks debuts of all time.

Benedict Cumberbatch plays Assange. Reviewers raved about his performance but said the movie itself was a third rate The Social Network or All the President’s Men. The film features Daniel Bruhl as Assange’s right hand guy, and Laura Linney and Stanley Tucci as senior members of the State Department.

Critics also bashed director Bill Condon for producing a “snoozefest.” We saw the movie at 11 pm last night without a thought of Zzzzzzz. Not only were we wide awake watching it, but I couldn’t fall asleep later because my mind was racing thinking about how the digital revolution has impacted us in so many ways.

I am very upset that more people didn’t rush to see this movie opening weekend. Variety’s headline yesterday read, Audiences to Hollywood: We Don’t Care About WikiLeaks. “WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange may be one of the most controversial figures in the world, yet moviegoers don’t seem all that interested.”

What a shame that movie goers would rather pick some fantasy shoot-em-up rather than learn something relevant about their future.

There is no accounting for taste!