Movies based on true events are always a tricky endeavor, especially if those events occurred within the last few years. If they are based on a single person, who happens to be alive, then it can get all sorts of awkward.

Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks is currently living in the Ecuadorian Assembly in London. If he ever leaves, London is going to send him off to Sweden for what he claims are bogus charges, who are then going to send him back to the U.S. for all sorts of “war crimes.” If you have never heard his name, and do not know who he is, then “The Fifth Estate” (Trailer) is probably the movie for you.

Despite being about Julian Assange (Benedict Cumberbatch), this film is told from the perspective of Daniel Berg (Daniel Bruhl, who was also just in “Rush“). Daniel started to work with Julian in 2007, drawn into the idea of WikiLeaks, which was a way for whistleblowers to anonymously report wrongdoings and keep their identity secret so that they will not face repercussions.

It’s a nice idea; they want to make the world more transparent, allow everyone to have secret information, and protect those that give that information. But what if WikiLeaks becomes more about Julian Assange than the original message? What if they do not care about protecting lives anymore?

It should be noted that the movie is based on two books that came out in 2011, one written by Daniel Domscheit-Berg, who was no longer with the company, both with a negative bias towards WikiLeaks. Because of that, it is hard to say how many of the events in this film are accurate in their portrayal. 

Despite their now aggressive relationship with each other, we get to see into the workings of the early years of WikiLeaks, their volunteer army, their expansion of servers across Europe, their battle against banks and in the courts for free speech and some of their biggest scoops. The film also tells the story up to including the famous Afghan War Diary, its biggest scoop, that was taken from the government by Bradley Manning.

As far as other actors, I guess they are important enough to mention. Laura Linney, Anthony Mackie and Stanley Tucci all play various U.S. Government employees, while Lydia Leonard and Moritz Bleibtreu (from “Run Lola Run” and “In July” fame) play other members of WikiLeaks, and David Thewlis, the main reporter for The Guardian who is covering WikiLeaks.

Needless to say, Assange has gone on record to say he does not agree with his own betrayal in this movie, calling it one-sided and a smear campaign against WikiLeaks. He has at least one point going for him: If powerful organizations want to discredit WikiLeaks and cause it to lose the trust of citizens of the world, then discrediting Assange as a person is one way to go about it. They mention it in the movie, and he says it in real life a lot.

In fact, the ending of the film is Cumberbatch recreating an interview that was done with Assange, about his thoughts on the film. Sure, it made the movie end weirdly, but encouraged the viewer to do their own research on the subject. Kind of meta, kind of cool.

Of course, Assange also has not seen the film, just read several scripts, so I can’t take his word completely, either.

“The Fifth Estate” definitely makes Julian look bad, but also a guy who more or less has his heart in the right place. He wants to make the world a better place, but at the same time he is only human.

I think the main problem with this film is they made this story far too melodramatic, to the point that it almost made it seem either over the top or just no longer real. The film even comes complete with “visual metaphors” because making movies about the Internet and data is pretty hard without making it look silly. So there are many scenes of a warehouse, almost infinite in size, with desks and computers showing the WikiLeaks army at work. What I am getting at is they still end up just looking silly.

Cumberbatch did an excellent job, as always, really doing his best to imitate Assange (and also seems to be a fan of the man from interviews). There is a documentary coming out eventually, “We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks,” which may give a more accurate portrayal of events. But until then, we are only left with this okay melodrama, about a man and his website.

3/5