"THE FIFTH ESTATE" (2013) Review

 

"THE FIFTH ESTATE" (2013) Review

The subject of WikiLeaks has been something of an conundrum for me. I have been aware of the series of news stories about the website and its founder and spokesperson, Julian Assange and Daniel Domscheit-Berg for years. But I must be honest . . . my thoughts on the whole matter tend to disappear at least a few minutes after hearing or reading about it. So when news of a film about WikiLeaks was announced, I found myself surprised by the online reaction to the news.

"THE FIFTH ESTATE" drew its title from a term that describes a group that operates outside of the society's normal groups, especially one that is considered beyond the restrictions or rules of those others. A "fifth estate" is strongly associated with journalists and media outlets viewed outside of or in opposition to the mainstream media or official press. This term could easily describe WikiLeaks, the Internet website and organization that publishes secret information, news leaks, and classified media from anonymous sources. The movie, which is directed by Bill Condon, is based upon Domscheit-Berg's book "Inside WikiLeaks: My Time with Julian Assange and the World's Most Dangerous Website" and "WikiLeaks: Inside Julian Assange's War on Secrecy" by journalists David Leigh and Luke Harding. Both were published in 2011. The movie follows the association between Assange and Domscheit-Berg, from their 2007 meeting at the Computer Chaos Club in Berlin to their estrangement over the Afghan War Logs. Judging from the movie's source of material, it is easy to see that the story is mainly told from Domscheit-Berg's point of view.

Is it a good movie? Many critics and filmgoers seem to believe otherwise. They directed their negative criticism toward Josh Singer's screenplay and Bill Condon's direction. In fact, many also believe it was a mistake for the movie to be told either from Domscheit-Berg's point of view or those in the U.S. intelligence service. I now feel they were right in regard to the movie's points-of-view. After all Assange proved to be the movie's main topic in the end. I now feel that "THE FIFTH ESTATE" would have benefited from balanced viewpoints of both Domscheit-Berg and Assange. There were a few other aspects of "THE FIFTH ESTATE" I found a little troubling. There were moments when I could not ascertain some of the dialogue. I do not if this was due to the movie theater's sound system or the performances in the film. "THE FIFTH ESTATE" also featured a set - an office space filled with desks - that served as a visual metaphor of the WikiLeaks website. Honestly, I found this so-called metaphor rather irrelevant and ham-fisted.

However, "THE FIFTH ESTATE" had its good points. I thought Bill Condon's direction of the film to be solid and well-paced. He was ably assisted by Tobias Schliessler's sharp cinematography and Virginia Katz's skillful editing. Condon also did an excellent job of injecting suspension in a tale that focused on the Internet. I feel that he and screenwriter Josh Singer were right to include the consequences of the Afghan War Logs exposure in a few sequences featuring a Libyan doctor with political ties named Tarek Haliseh, who served as an informant for U.S. intelligence. Despite the film's failure to focus some of its story from Assange's viewpoint, I must admit that I found the movie's plot very interesting. Thanks to "THE FIFTH ESTATE", I managed to maintain my interest in WikiLeaks a lot longer than ten minutes or less.

I cannot deny that "THE FIFTH ESTATE" greatly benefited from a talented cast. Benedict Cumberbatch gave a very interesting performance as colorful creator of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange. I have no idea if the latter was satisfied with Cumberbatch. And there is a good chance (or not) that the characterization was off. If it was off, then one must place the blame on Singer's screenplay, not Cumberbatch's skillful performance. A less skillful actor could have easily been overshadowed by Cumberbatch's performance. Fortunately, Daniel Brühl was talented enough to make Daniel Domscheit-Berg a fascinating character in his own right - especially in scenes that conveyed the latter's frustrations with the Assange character. A third performance that caught my eye came from David Thewlis, who was equally colorful as British journalist Nick Davies, who covered WikiLeaks' exposure of the Afghan War Logs. I was also impressed by Laura Linney, who did an excellent job in conveying the U.S. intelligence services' anger and frustration toward the WikiLeaks website. The movie also featured solid performances from Stanley Tucci, Alicia Vikander, Dan Stevens, Alexander Siddig, Peter Capaldi, Moritz Bleibtreu and Anthony Mackie. However, I was disappointed by the film's minimum use of Mackie. For someone listed third in the cast, he had a very small role.

Despite the negative reaction to the movie and my belief that it could have included the viewpoint of main character Julian Assange, I still managed to enjoy "THE FIFTH ESTATE". I thought director Bill Condon and screenwriter Josh Singer did a solid job in creating a credible thriller from a movie about computer online leakage. More importantly, the film benefited from first-rate performances given by a talented cast led by Benedict Cumberbatch and Daniel Brühl.

"THE SUSPICIONS OF MR. WHICHER: THE MURDER AT ROAD HILL HOUSE" (2011) Review

 

"THE SUSPICIONS OF MR. WHICHER: THE MURDER AT ROAD HILL HOUSE" (2011) Review

Over six years ago, a relative of mine had suggested I watch a BBC television movie about a Victorian-era murder story. Although it aired on the Amazon Prime Video streaming channel (and still does to this day), I had assumed it was a documentary. To my surprise, it turned out to be a television movie called "THE SUSPICIONS OF MR. WHICHER: THE MURDER AT ROAD HILL HOUSE".

Before watching the movie, I had quickly discovered that the production was an adaptation of Kate Summerscale's 2008 non-fiction book, "The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher or The Murder at Road Hill House", winner of Britain's Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction for that year. Hence, the reason why I had initially assumed this was a documentary. The book was an account of the real-life murder of three year-old Francis Saville Kent in 1860 Wiltshire. Francis, the three year-old son of a "Factory Commissioner" for the Home Office named Samuel Saville Kent, was found murdered on the Road Hill House estate in Wiltshire, leased by his father. The child's nursemaid, Elizabeth Gough, had announced his disappearance. Two estate hands eventually found Francis' body inside a privy-house, with knife wounds on his chest and hands, and his throat deeply slashed. Outrage over the brutal murder of a prominent man's child, Scotland Yard had dispatched Detective Inspector Jack Whicher to solve the case.

Whicher's assignment to the case proved to be a godsend for Gough, who immediately fell under the suspicions of Police Superintendent John Foley of nearby Trowbridge. The latter would have pressed for her arrest if Whicher had not cleared her of any further suspicions. However, the Scotland Yard detective's suspicions rested on another member of the household, namely Kent's sixteen year-old daughter, Constance Emily Kent. Whicher also began to suspect Constance's brother, fifteen year-old William Saville Kent. The detective believed Constance (with her brother's help) had sought revenge against their former nanny, Mary Pratt Kent, who had married their father following the death of their mother. There had been suspicions that Kent and his second wife had an affair during his marriage to Constance and William's mother. Since young Francis had been conceived during their father's second marriage, Whicher suspected Constance or both of them of murdering the three year-old boy.

"THE SUSPICIONS OF MR. WHICHER: THE MURDER AT ROAD HILL HOUSE" did not strike me one of the most fascinating murder mysteries I have seen on film or television. This did not surprise me, considering the television movie proved to be more of a fictionalized account of an actual case that had been solved over 160 years ago. I would say "THE MURDER AT ROAD HILL HOUSE" was more of a historical drama or a "true life" crime movie than a murder mystery. After all, it did not take the protagonist very long to produce a believable suspect, halfway into the narrative. The movie eventually became a mental tug-of-war between Whicher and Constance, in which the former struggled to convince the latter to confess to the murder. At the same time, Whicher and his close friend and colleague, Adolphus "Dolly" Williamson, raced to find physical evidence to support his suspicions. Despite their success in discovering hard evidence against Constance, the pair's efforts ended up being stymied or sabotaged by Superintendent Foley, head of the local police. Not only did Foley resented an outsider becoming the lead investigator in the Kent case, he seemed offended that any working-class man would accuse the sixteen year-old daughter of a respectable, middle-class citizen like Samuel Kent, of murder. What made this even worse for Whicher is that many of the locals and the media seemed to share Foley's class bias.

I have to give kudos for the movie's production values. I believe David Roger's production designs really captured the look and style of 1860s Britain. And I believe he did so without being either extravagant or cheap. Roger's work was ably assisted by Jo Kornstein's set decorations, Kate Evenden's art direction and Matt Gray's photography. Lucinda Wright's costume designs managed to perfectly captured Roger's balanced look for the movie's setting. Were her costumes accurate for 1860s Britain? I honestly cannot say so. Regardless of accuracy, I do believe Wright's costumes managed to perfectly captured the essence of the movie's characters across both gender and class.

"THE SUSPICIONS OF MR. WHICHER: THE MURDER AT ROAD HILL HOUSE" featured some solid performances. At least from the supporting cast. Performers like William Beck, Emma Fielding, Kate O'Flynn, Tim Piggott-Smith, Ben Miles, Donald Sumpter, Charlie Hiett, Julian Firth, Sarah Ridgeway and Antony Byrne all gave competent and solid performances. However, I believe a few did give what I consider to be the movie's best performances. Naturally, I felt Paddy Considine was sensational as the solid, yet intelligent Jack Whicher. I thought he did a superb job of conveying Whicher's growing frustration of the impediments that made his investigation to reach a successful conclusion. Equally sensational was Alexandra Roach, who gave an enigmatic and skillful performance as the cool and supercilious Constance Kent. Peter Capaldi's portrayal of Constance's father, Samuel Savill Kent, struck me as surprisingly complex and ambiguous. Capaldi did a great job of conveying hints that the public's suspicions of his character might be justified. I also found myself very impressed by Tom Georgeson's performance as the narrow-minded Superintendent Foley. The actor did an excellent job of portraying his character's class bigotry and resentment toward Whicher's role in the investigation.

As murder mysteries go, "THE SUSPICIONS OF MR. WHICHER: THE MURDER AT ROAD HILL HOUSE" seemed like an ineffectual effort. When the main protagonist manages to discover the true culprit halfway into the production, it seems a waste of time to label the movie as a murder mystery. However, "THE SUSPICIONS OF MR. WHICHER: THE MURDER AT ROAD HILL HOUSE" proved to be a very effective and well-done historical drama about a famous murder case, thanks to a skillful direction from James Hawes, a first-rate adaptation written by Neil McKay and superb performances from a cast led by Paddy Considine. As a fictionalized account of a famous true crime, the television movie proved to be quite fascinating.