We Steal Secrets: A Review

We Steal Secrets is a documentary by Alex Gibney about Julian Assange, Chelsea (nee Bradley) Manning and WikiLeaks. Thought it was a very interesting film, which told the story of both people as well as the rise of the infamous website fairly well. It was much more focused on the aftermath of the leaks versus anything that came before, but in that way it almost is more effective because it plays on the nature of competing realities almost. What's reality to one person is not necessarily reality to another. And, these contrasting realities are the heart of the story. Assange, while smart and savvy, is also very petty and proud and selfish. While some might say he painted the target on himself to keep the rest of the people who made WikiLeaks under the radar, it seems to me more that he wanted the celebrity, he wanted to be the face and be the icon because it suited how he viewed himself best. He always saw himself as a Very Important Person who was both the rock star and the martyr. All the shit with his legal issues in Sweden, which if you listen to his followers make it seem like an international conspiracy to silence WikiLeaks forever, was nothing more than a man who refused to take an HIV test for two women who he had unprotected sex with, and got fed up with his attitude. He then allowed WikiLeaks followers to donate money to pay his bail and legal fees, all the while trying to keep his legal issues and WikiLeaks' issues tied together, thus making him almost a dual pariah. You see that he became this paranoid, secretive man who basically sabotaged his own creation and turned it into something he despised once. He was actively misinforming the public to protect his image of being the persecuted hero.

While Assange might be the more complex subject of the film, Manning is the most interesting. Here you have a person who is almost the polar opposite of Assange. While Julian Assange is almost master of his own reality, crafting and creating and editing as he goes along; Manning is a victim of realities. We see a person who from a very young age was under assault from the realities within and without that are created by us and forced upon us. Manning has an acute case of conscience and empathy, which doesn't fly well when working in Military Intelligence. Manning brings into her service a life of having to adapt and camouflage just to get by in day to day life, then finds herself faced with the stark realities of war. After having to stare long and hard at what is on the other side of the curtain, she decides that her reality must become everyone's. She can't handle this reality alone anymore. But, even though she feels morally vindicated for leaking all those hundreds of thousands of documents, she is torn by the implications. She feels for all the people who might be put in harm's way in the name of naked truth. But, most of all, it seems like she is in search of her true identity, her chosen reality, and maybe had hoped this would be a keystone in that journey.

Overall, I would give the film high marks despite getting a little bogged down in the mire of the Assange legal scandal, but I do praise the fact it reports on all sides of the issues, both in favor of and against the kind of leaks that took place. The film definitely has an opinion on the matter, but it is far closer to common sense than some documentaries in the past. Gibney has a knack for getting inside the heads of his subjects, and then using a wide array of visual styles to convey personalities and character traits and/or flaws to the audience. It is a strong piece of reporting, and from what I hear, not favored by WikiLeaks itself as much as The Fifth Estate which it had direct input in (take that as you will). And, if for no other reason, see this film because it tells Chelsea Manning's story, which all other takes on the WikiLeaks story fail to do. Manning's story is easily the most compelling and heartbreaking, maybe because she took all the risk, suffered all the consequences, but didn't get to become an icon for hackers and internet anarchists like Assange did for just being a middleman. Compelling stuff, at the end of the day, and a lot to think on.