‘Snowden’

A riveting piece of political whistleblowing that goes hand-in-hand with the 2014 documentary, Citizenfour.

Illegal covert surveillance programmes run by the NSA in collaboration with other intelligence agencies worldwide were exposed by one of their own – Edward Snowden. Played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, the cyber expert’s backstory from military reject to the world’s most wanted man is told without the usual MTV-inspired flourishes associated with director Oliver Stone. And it’s the better for it.

Nominated for 1 Razzie, 2017 – Nicholas Cage for worst supporting actor.

Rating: 73%

Director: Oliver Stone (Platoon, Wall Street)

Writer: Kieran Fitzgerald (The Homesman, The Ballad of Esequiel Hernández), Oliver Stone (Midnight Express, Wall Street) – based on the books by Luke Harding and Anatoly Kucherena

Main cast: Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Inception, The Dark Knight Rises), Shailene Woodley (Allegiant, The Descendants), Melissa Leo (Frozen River, Prisoners)