Snowden (film)

Snowden is a 2016 film about the NSA's illegal surveillance techniques that are leaked to the public by one of the agency's employees, Edward Snowden, in the form of thousands of classified documents distributed to the press.

Directed by Oliver Stone. Written by Kieran Fitzgerald and Oliver Stone, based on The Snowden Files by Luke Harding and Time of the Octopus by Anatoly Kucherena.

• You ever hear about the Nuremberg trials, Trev? They weren't that long ago. Yeah, well, the big shots were the first trial, but then the next trial were just the judges, and lawyers, and policemen, and guards, and ordinary people just doing their jobs, following orders. That's where we got the Nuremberg principles, which then the UN made into international law, just in case ordinary jobs become criminal again.

• I think the greatest freedom that I have gained, the fact that I don't have to worry about what happens tomorrow, Because I'm happy with what I've done today.

• And ultimately, the truth sinks in that no matter what justification you're selling yourself, this is not about terrorism. Terrorism is the excuse. This is about economic and social control. And the only thing you're really protecting is the supremacy of your government.

• You didn't tell me we were running a dragnet on the whole world, Corbin.

• No matter who you are, every day of your life, you're sitting in a database just ready to be looked at.

• And it's just gonna get worse for the next generation, as they extend the capabilities of this sort of architecture of oppression.

• Look, Mr. MacAskill, uh, this is not about money or anything for me. There's no hidden agenda. I just wanted to get this data to established journalists like yourselves, so that you can present it to the world, and the people can decide either I'm wrong or there's something going on inside the government that's really wrong.

• The modern battlefield is everywhere.

• In 20 years, Iraq will be a hellhole nobody cares about. Terrorism's a short-term threat. The real threats will come from China, Russia, Iran. and they'll come as SQL injections and malware. Without minds like yours, this country will be torn apart in cyberspace.

• Bombs won't stop terrorism, brains will, and we don't have nearly enough of those. I'm gonna give you a shot, Snowden.

• Secrecy is security and security is victory.

• Most Americans don't want freedom, they want security.

• [about the Cray-1.] The first supercomputer. You can get all of this on a cell phone now.

• Sometimes, the more you look, the less you see.

• You would think intelligence would count for something in the intelligence business. Right. But you wanna know what it really is? What really sets the agenda? Military industrial happiness management. You keep the coffers open in Congress, you keep the money flowing to the contractors.

• Gabriel Sol: Optic Nerve. It's camera and mic activation. I wish we could take credit, but the Brits wrote it. Yeah, her laptop's off. Or was, she just forgot to close it. Of course, how would she know? This shit is so sly, the webcam light doesn't even turn on.

Edward Snowden: So, you're, um, an engineer?

Hank Forrester: Am I an engineer? Instructor and counselor, too. I'm supposed to keep an eye on you CTs, make sure you don't buckle under the pressure. Turn to drugs and booze.

Edward Snowden: Well, you won't have that problem with me. I don't drink or do drugs.

Hank Forrester: What is your sin of choice?

Edward Snowden: Uh, computers.

Hank Forrester: Well, then, Snowden, you've come to the right little whorehouse.

---

Gabriel Sol: So think of it as a Google search, except instead of searching only what people make public, we're also looking at everything they don't. So... Emails, chats, SMS, whatever.

Edward Snowden: Yeah, but which people?

Gabriel Sol: The whole kingdom, Snow White.

---

Edward Snowden: So, this is data collection for the month of March worldwide, emails and Skype calls. So France, 70 million. Germany, 500 million. Brazil, two billion. Inside the U.S., 3.1 billion emails and calls. That's not including any of the telecom company data.

NSA Dep. Director Lowell: Okay, so what's the collection in Russia?

Edward Snowden: Russia is 1.5 billion.

NSA Dep. Director Lowell: Wait, so we're collecting twice as much in the U.S. as we are in Russia?

---

Corbin O'Brian: What's the first rule of battle?

Edward Snowden: Never reveal your position.

• One nation under surveillance for liberty and justice for all.
• The only safe place is on the run.

• It's a very strange thing to do [a story about] an American man, and not be able to finance this movie in America. And that's very disturbing, if you think about its implications on any subject that is not overtly pro-American. They say we have freedom of expression; but thought is financed, and thought is controlled, and the media is controlled. This country is very tight on that, and there’s no criticism allowed at a certain level. You can make movies about civil rights leaders who are dead, but it’s not easy to make one about a current man.
  • Oliver Stone, Oliver Stone Reveals Clandestine Meetings With Edward Snowden, NSA Worries (March 8, 2016)

Joseph Gordon-Levitt — Edward Snowden Shailene Woodley — Lindsay Mills Melissa Leo — Laura Poitras Zachary Quinto — Glenn Greenwald Tom Wilkinson — Ewen MacAskill Scott Eastwood — Trevor James Logan Marshall-Green — Male Drone Pilot Timothy Olyphant — CIA Agent Geneva

Ben Schnetzer — Gabriel Sol LaKeith Lee Stanfield — Patrick Haynes Rhys Ifans — Corbin O’Brian Nicolas Cage — Hank Forrester Joely Richardson — Janine Gibson Edward Snowden — himself Robert Firth — Dr. Stillwell

• Snowden quotes at the Internet Movie Database
• Snowden at Rotten Tomatoes
• Official website