Classified-documents leaker Edward Snowden, who fled to Russia to avoid facing charges of espionage in the U.S., is now seeking a pardon from President Obama. The push by Snowden to return home coincides with the release of Oliver Stone’s hagiographic movie “Snowden.”
So far, the movie has been something of a bust at the box office, but it will be interesting to see how film affects public perception in the feverish debate over whether Snowden is a traitor or a patriot.
The opening shot of Stone’s movie announces that the film is a dramatization of the actual events. Indeed, it takes some creative license with the truth. Here are five facts that Stone’s celebratory film about the former NSA and CIA contractor dramatizes.
1. Snowden’s a “senior advisor” for the CIA.
Remember that revealing moment in the movie where Edward Snowden, played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, looks thoughtfully through the window of his hotel room in Hong Kong and tells reporter Laura Poitras (played by Melissa Leo) about his work for the intelligence agency as “a senior advisor”? This is a gross exaggeration of the reality.
A House Intelligence Committee report released on September 15 says that former contractor performed entry-level duties for the CIA as a computer technician. He was never a senior advisor.
2. NSA deputy director sends Snowden on an important mission.
There is a scene where the NSA director asks Snowden to go to Hawaii to lead an important project. When National Public Radio interviewed Chris Inglis, the deputy director at the time, he commented:
“It’s preposterous on its face. For many reasons. That a deputy director would reach down to a contractor, who’s performing an important but relatively low-level function,and ask them to take on a Jason Bourne-like activity? It simply exceeds all propriety.”
3. Snowden steals tons of classified files in one fell swoop.
Oliver Stone shows Snowden copying all the files in one easy move (with a little dose of suspense). Snowden downloads all the documents to the SD card and walks out of the NSA, never to return. He is shown walking into the sunlight with a smile on his face.
In reality, as the House Committee report shows, Snowden began downloading classified documents after he was reprimanded at work for engaging in a fiery email exchange and looping in a senior NSA supervisor. He had been copying the files over the course of several weeks.
This fact really begs the question: Why wasn’t Snowden more selective in the files he decided to reveal to the public? If he really wanted to release information about America’s surveillance of its own citizens, why then did he steal and leak a great amount of classified files that had nothing to do with programs impacting americans’ privacy?
4. Snowden was dismissed from the army because he broke his legs
According to Oliver Stone (and Snowden himself) he was dismissed from army basic training because of broken legs. In the movie the doctor tells Snowden that if he comes back to the training his legs will simply turn to powder. Stone over-dramatized this fact as well.
The official report states that Snowden, in fact, washed out of the army because of shin splints.
5. Snowden has a high-school degree.
The movie states that Snowden obtained a high-school degree equivalent, when in fact he never did. He is alleged to have exaggerated his resume and stolen the answers to an employment test.
