See the world in the ivory tower
With the rationality of jurisprudence, with the temperature of the media
Author: Knife pen | Audit: Zhao'an
Proofreader: Yan Nanting | Edit: Ji Ling
Image source: Network intrusion and deletion
preface
The articles that have not yet been written together have many points in common and many points of distinction. Is it also a "traitor" to the confrontation between the state's ability and the people's ability to reasonably resist, and to uncover state secrets for the sake of the people's right to privacy and the right to know? Is there a conflict between the protection of "intelligence agents" and the so-called "national security"? In the face of the pressure of the "prison disaster", how to keep the original heart?
"Truth First" is the persistence of a female journalist, with realistic projection and the dramatic rendering of the film.
The assassination of the President of the United States, the military retaliation of the White House against Venezuela without conclusive evidence, and only one female agent in the CIA agent, Erica, investigated and believed that the assassination had nothing to do with Venezuela but was not recognized. Rachel, a well-known reporter for The Sun, inadvertently learns erica's identity as an agent and reports the truth about her assassination.
The matter involved confidentiality, and the government sent special prosecutor Patton to intervene in the investigation to find the informant who leaked the secret to Rachel. In the case of complete non-compliance with the procedure, Rachel was held in the detention center for up to a year, but still refused to let go.
The declassification of the identity of the ending informant is the biggest embodiment of the trend of the film's drama, and it is also the most controversial part of the film - has Rachel violated the fundamental principle of honesty and trustworthiness? And is it necessary to overturn the value of the whole movie?
"The Fourth Citizen" is a documentary, one of the 9/11 trilogy, a true record of the "Prism Gate" incident in the United States and first-hand information, more realistic, but also more group-like and touching.
After the events of 9/11 in 2007, the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) used the pretext of protecting national security to monitor the information of all U.S. citizens and even citizens of other countries in the world, buying keys from telecommunications companies, and all personal information such as Internet records, chat logs, call logs, and documents was under surveillance.
A former CIA technical analyst contacted director Laura Boterras with Edward Snowden and later with The Guardian reporter Green Glennward. Snowden is responsible for disclosing various programs and details that violate citizens' privacy rights; Green is responsible for interviewing, recording, writing and making the truth public, and using public opinion pressure to safeguard citizens' right to privacy; Laura was responsible for filming the documentary and preparing for the documentary.
The documentary is named after the email name "Fourth Citizen" that Snowden and Patrice used when they first contacted.
The fourth power refers to the fourth kind of political power in addition to the executive power, legislative power and judicial power, which has no specific interpretation and provisions of laws and regulations, but is naturally agreed upon, referring to the media and public audio-visual.
The fourth citizen here speaks for itself.
When the initial news exposed the identity of the informant, he was called a "leak hero", and after several years, the debate about whether to be a "hero" or a "traitor" became blurred again, and the glory of the past seemed to gradually sink...
The female journalist in "Truth First" won a Pulitzer Prize in the film, while The Director of the documentary "The Fourth Citizen", Botrice, won a Pulitzer Prize in reality.
The solo retrograde in the movie
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People in reality are collecting firewood
In "Truth First", as soon as the truth is reported, Rachel is immediately approached by special prosecutor Patton and asks her to name the "intelligence person". At the first trial, Rachel said, "Under the First Amendment and the Federal Act, I refuse to answer this question because it would violate my rights." ”
The First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States states that "Congress may not deprive liberty of speech or freedom of the press." And Patton's so-called "national security" is above all else, and in the face of national security, any law seems to be pale.
Newspaper directors and newspaper lawyers, who initially clamored to protect Rachel, gradually fell silent in the process of constant pressure; The loving husband can't stand the gap between his wife in prison and has an affair, and Rachel loses custody of her son Timmy because she is in detention; The major media from the initial indignant demand for Rachel's release to the later no longer follow-up reports...
Only the lawyer Albert persevered from the beginning to the end, of course, his persistence can only be a little effort, inspired by Rachel's charisma, from the initial senseless attitude to become more and more cautious and sincere.
"A man left his family and went to jail to defend his principles, and then people used his name as the name of the festival. A man left his children to go to war, and then a monument was erected for him. Now a woman does the same thing, but she's a monster. ”
"Any qualified journalist will suffer from imprisonment in order to uphold their principles."
"I told her that I would choose to protect her personally, not her principles. It wasn't until I met her that I realized that for truly remarkable people, there is no difference between people and principles. ”
For the tragic color of the film, the unbeatable generosity is naturally more interesting, while the "Fourth Citizen", which looks at the reality record, can see more people with feelings, ambitions, and moral sentiments take a difficult and firm step.
The documentary is written from the director's point of view, and when the narration is needed, it is explained in white on a black background, while the content of the letter from the director's Potris perspective in the narration is directly read by himself, and the rest of the narration is silent.
The first act of the documentary briefly describes some of the director's circumstances: being secretly watched for making films about Iraq, being detained and interrogated dozens of times along the U.S. border, and filming films about Guantanamo prison and the war on terror.
Before filming "The Fourth Citizen", Boterius had already become interested in the secret surveillance of the US government, and under the revelation of an informant, he filmed the related short film "The Plan", and Snowden probably watched this short film before choosing Boterras.
The Guardian's reporters continue to follow the report:
The first article reveals that the US telecommunications giant Verizon daily handed over the call records of millions of users to the US National Security Agency, involving the number of calls, the length of the call, the length of the call, the duration of the call and so on.
The second article, exposing confidential government documents, shows that the US National Security Agency and the FBI directly access the central servers of 9 network giants such as Microsoft, Google, Apple, Facebook, and Yahoo, and can track user emails, chat records, videos, audio, documents, photos and other Online information in real time, and comprehensively monitor the every move of specific targets and their contacts.
The third part exposes Snowden's identity. "Rather than subjecting me to the mental restraint of others like me, I would rather be alone in prison or other serious consequences." I can't say I'm making self-sacrifice, because if I can contribute to the good of others, I'll be proud of it myself. “
After his identity was revealed, U.S. federal prosecutors filed criminal charges against Snowden for three felonies: stealing and transferring government property, unauthorized dissemination of national defense information under the Espionage Act, and intentional dissemination of classified intelligence. An international community of lawyers who defended Snowden pro bono gathered to discuss Snowden's legal status.
WikiLeaks learned about Snowden and offered to secure a year-long political protection in Russia, where he still lives today. His girlfriend has accompanied him through the pressure, married in Russia, and this year the baby is also a year old.
The hedge between ideals and real life
You want to do hard, investigative, confrontational things, this is an unavoidable topic, which I have written about before when I wrote about the aftermath of the N room.
When Rachel can only be a speck of dust in the ocean, and the mantis arm cannot be used as a car, the lawyer Albert is also shaken: "A man can live well, be respected, and do charity, but the number of people who can finally attend his funeral is determined by the weather." The environment has changed, Rachel. In the past, such struggles were much easier and people would call you heroes, but today social media stops its own struggles and instead starts to tilt toward the government. ”
"The truth is, if I had known that writing this ghost article would separate me from Timmy, maybe I wouldn't have done it." But now that we have published the report and chosen our path, there is no way back. ”
In the days of the detention center, Rachel did not compromise, but her state was declining day by day, and even because she finally could not stand it, she fought with her fellow inmates with the straw of "grabbing the bunk".
Looking at Snowden in "The Fourth Citizen", he was relaxed and comfortable at the beginning of the documentary shooting, and by the time he finally appeared on camera, he had deep eye sockets and dark circles were very serious. However, the film does not deliberately "sell miserably" to show this, but simply shows Snowden's daily life, which seems to be light and fluttering, but in fact, the impact is strong enough.
During that time, Snowden lived in Hong Kong and later fled to Russia; Bertrands had to settle in Berlin, Germany; Green moved to Brazil. They can't do the work they love in their own land, they have to pay extra attention to daily communication, they have to unplug the line after the landline is on the phone, they have to take out the memory card after the computer is used up, and all the shooting material has to be encrypted and protected...
Snowden never regretted it, but I think it was because the consequences were within the bearable range; What if Rachel endured endless prison life?
Many people around me want me to "protect myself", there is no need to speak out. Actually, ask anybody, Rachel, Snowden, Boterrand: Do you know what you're likely to face? Their answer must be yes. But if you ask: Do you really understand the tragic extent of this consequence? Can you really bear the consequences without regret? I think the answer is no. But the answer to "to be or not to be" must still be yes.
I dare not say that I have the courage to become a martyr, but I will hold the "luck mentality" and think that I am not the one who sacrificed. If you really become a martyr, it is "too late to regret" anyway, isn't it?
Controversy over films and documentaries
The controversy of "Truth First" is that the ending reveals the identity of the intelligence agent. Rachel's son and Erica's daughter are in the same kindergarten, and the little girl inadvertently informs Rachel of her mother's identity and tells her not to tell anyone else, but Rachel puts it in the newspaper.
Some viewers think that this kind of behavior violates the principle of good faith, and she exposes Erica's identity for credibility, but if it is me, it would be better to reduce the credibility and refer to "so-and-so", not just to promise the girl's promise, but more because I think that making a great decision cannot be made at the expense of the individual's life.
After the protagonist of "The Fourth Citizen" Snowden moved to Russia, he would occasionally make some statements about underground creatures and aliens, and some people thought that he was sensationalist, and he was still trying to expose the news of "one stone stirring up a thousand waves" but could not make a splash.
Whatever it is now, the original decision could never have been for "traffic", what a difficult struggle it was to get a glimpse of the tip of the iceberg in the documentary. So far, the anger of the masses has subsided, the heroes have disappeared into the mountains, and in some specific situations, the heroes of the past may become the "traitors" of today.
What is the geometry, leave it to everyone to comment.