Fifth Estate [Movie-2013]

Director - Bill Condon
Run Time - 2 hours, 8 minutes
Genre - Drama/Biography

The Fifth Estate. The fifth realm of the estate. The powerful world of bloggers, and journalists, who operate outside the world of mainstream media. In this movie we witness the actual power of the fifth realm.

The story about WIKILEAKS. Yes, this movie is about the story of how the biggest NEWSMAKER of 2010 came into existence. We have Julian Assange here played by Benedict Cumberbatch, who is progressing into the world of cinema viciously, and is proving his credentials as one of the best upcoming actors. Accompanying him, as the 'alleged' co-founder of the site, we have Daniel Berg, played by Daniel Bruhl, of the 'Rush' fame.

Now, I cannot seem to fathom how this movie has got such a low rating among various movie rating sites such as IMDB, Rotten Tomatoes and MetaCritic. I found it to be a pretty good movie. Here, I do not use the word amazing, as I do in many of my reviews, because it lacked certain elements, to make it so. I do not understand why is this movie considered as a failed thriller, because it is based on a true story, i.e. the creation of a site, and what it came to be. It is a biography, and it serves it's purpose as that. Yes, it is not even remotely of the same parity as 'The Social Network', but it is pretty well made.

We see the egoistical Assange, along with his loyal friend, or as Assange would call him, employee, Berg, building up the blocks for the site. Hosting tech-conferences which no one attends, and travelling across Europe to set up servers for the site, courtesy 'a couple thousand euros' saved up by Berg's hardwork. As the site grows, differences throw up between the two, culminating into the termination of their friendship/partnership. You can somewhat compare the story with 'The Social Network' - I was doing it, while watching the movie. But, do not consider it to be anywhere close to what the David Fincher's masterpiece was [one of my all time favourites].

We have a brilliant performance by both our lead actors. Cumberbatch playing the pompous and deceitful Julian Assange with no great difficulty, and Bruhl playing the calm and composed Berg, who infuses rationale and emotion as the co-founder of the site. We have two opposing figures in the movie. But that's it. What the movie lacked was more screen presence and influence to the story by the supporting characters.

The graphics were brilliant, especially the imagery of the data flow. The imaginative office of 'WikiLeaks' adding a touch of class to it.

In all, a decent movie.

My Rating - 6.9/10