Creating 2015—Day 48:   Oscar Nominated Documentary Watch—Citizen Four

Holy crap!  What a mind-blowing movie.  I suddenly feel the urge to take up learning how to use a bow and arrow.  Our future is probably not too far from The Hunger Games—a dystopian society and then some.  How much time before we are all Katnisses and Peetas trying to survive in district 12?  Our every move recorded and monitored and manipulated by President Snow?  Not long according to the Oscar nominated documentary film Citizen Four.

When Edward Snowden initially comes on camera I blurt out, “He’s a traitor!  I think he’s a traitor!”  It’s a knee jerk response.  I come from a family of hard-core patriots in Republican upbringings mind you.  You don’t talk shit about your country or leak classified documents that might jeopardize undercover ops.  Not to mention, I believed my President when he said, “No, I don’t think Mr. Snowden was a patriot.”  The implication? He’s a traitor!  Uh-mazing Romantic Partner shushes my indignant declarations so he can focus.  The film requires a lot of reading in the first few minutes.  You can’t miss a chyron or you’ll be lost.

Must-see documentary!

As information is revealed, my doubt that this guy is a full-blown turncoat grows.  He’s young.  He’s idealistic.  He’s calling bullshit.  NSA spying.  Bold face lies.  Metadata.  Citizen Four is a thriller unfolding in real time.  It’s riveting.  I couldn’t look away.  Even though I didn’t like what I was hearing, I knew I needed to hear it.

There are two sides to every story and my take away from this one was that if Edward Snowden had of done what POTUS wanted him to do which was turn himself in for “due process,” we would have never heard from him again.  That’s right.  The Espionage Act is what the guy is being charged under and it doesn’t afford you a public jury hearing.  I mean, I watch Scandal and House of Cards!  And after what I learned from Snowden’s leaks in this movie, the blind trust I had in my president and my government has been shaken.

Who do I believe?  The President of the United States or an Oscar nominated documentary?  It’s quite the dilemma.  The truth is probably somewhere in the middle. But here’s the rub in three words: acts of terrorism.  That’s where they get me.  Do I really care that a secret spying government agency is tracking and gathering my data?  Not if they are tracking and gathering data on terrorists to stop them from committing heinous crimes!  Keeping my family and our country safe is the priority.  Sure, it freaks me out to think that my entire cyber life is backed up somewhere without my permission.  Every computer cache, cell phone record, Amazon order, credit card purchase, email sent, and phone call is being stored in the NSA’s 1.5 million square foot spy center in the heart of Mormon country in Utah?  Scary.  I can’t help but scan my brain for what my search histories contain and the sites I visited earlier today.  I cringe when I remember which category I chose on Porn Hub this afternoon.  But do I care enough to do something about it?  What, exactly, I would do about it, if I decided I actually wanted to do something about it, I have no idea.

I calm myself down by thinking, “Hey, I’m a nobody.  They don’t give a shit what I’m jacking off to as long as it’s legal.  Right?” But what if I wasn’t a nobody?  What if, like journalist and filmmaker Laura Poitras, I make the wrong movie someday and get on the NSA’s “watch list” because of it?  Does the very thought of that make me shy away from examining controversial subject matter?  Maybe.  Self-censorship?  Wow.  That is terrifying.

Until tomorrow, create from what you have…informative documentaries and dilemmas.

Kelli Joan Bennett is a filmmaker, actress, writer, entrepreneur, advocate for creative thinking and Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Think Outside The Box Inside The Box Media.

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