Citizenfour

It’s like if Jason Bourne decided to leak government secrets instead of kicking ass.

Government techie Edward Snowden drops the biggest truth bomb on government surveillance since Woodward met Bernstein in a dimly lit parking garage.

Trailer for “Citizenfour”

Watch “Citizenfour” Online

You can stream it for free on:

You can rent Citizenfour (usually $3.99) on AppleTV, Amazon, YouTube, Vudu/Fandango, Microsoft et al. Check here for those latest streaming options: https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/citizen-four

I checked Netflix to see if they carry Citizenfour and they don’t. But I like to play this game where I type the name of a documentary into Netflix Search to see what I get.

In this case, “Citizenfour” on Netflix got me “The Great Hack”, “The Social Dilemma” and “Spycraft”.

Some people also think Citizenfour is on HBO Max. Max doesn’t carry Citizenfour but it does carry “Snowden” (the fictionalized version of the story).

For those of you who are worried that bad guys are tracking you online, you can buy the Citizenfour DVD or Blu-Ray on Amazon last I checked here.

As usual, Citizenfour is also on Putlocker, Megashare, etc. but I don’t include links for those here because I too often hear those streaming sites might be violating copyright infringement.

Ratings:

  • My Rating: 97/100
  • IMDB Rating: 8/10
  • Rotten Tomatoes Ratings: 87/100 (Users); 96/100 (Critics)

Review of “Citizenfour”

Imagine you’re Laura Poitras, a filmmaker minding your own business, when suddenly in January 2013, you get this cryptic email from someone calling themselves “Citizenfour.”

Sounds like a bad spy novel, right?

But wait, it gets better.

Turns out, “Citizenfour” is actually Edward Snowden, a 29-year-old NSA contractor who’s about to drop some serious knowledge on the world.

Fast forward to June 2013, and you’re in a tiny hotel room in Hong Kong’s Mira Hotel with Snowden and journalist Glenn Greenwald. It’s like a scene straight out of a thriller movie.

Over the next eight days, Snowden spills the tea on the NSA’s massive surveillance programs, like PRISM, which lets the government snoop on user data from giants like Google and Facebook.

It’s like finding out your nosy neighbor has been reading your diary, but on a global scale.

Snowden’s revelations are a bombshell: the NSA is collecting phone records, emails, and internet data on millions of people, often without them knowing.

It’s the kind of stuff that makes you want to toss your phone into the ocean and live off the grid.

But here’s the thing: Snowden isn’t just some random guy with a grudge. He’s meticulous, using encrypted chats and carefully choosing who to trust.

When the stories break in The Guardian and The Washington Post on June 5, 2013, Snowden’s face is everywhere.

The government is not happy, to put it mildly.

They’re calling Snowden a traitor and charging him with espionage, forcing him to flee to Russia like some kind of high-stakes game of tag.

But “Citizenfour” isn’t just about the drama. It’s a rare glimpse into a moment that changed everything.

Poitras’ camera captures Snowden’s final days before going public, the emotional goodbyes with his girlfriend Lindsay Mills, and the weight of life on the run.

In the end, “Citizenfour” is a wake-up call, a reminder that in the digital age, privacy is never a given. It challenges us to think harder about what we share and who we trust with our information.

It’s the kind of story that sticks with you long after the credits roll.

So, if you’re ready for a wild ride through the world of government secrets and high-stakes whistleblowing, “Citizenfour” is the movie for you. Just don’t blame me if you start side-eyeing your laptop camera afterward.

Thanks for reading!

Rob Kelly, Chief Maniac, Daily Doc