(Again with hindsight) I watched Citizen 4, purely because I read the news that Russia gave Snowden permanent residency last month on the timeline. The most touching thing about the whole documentary is that everyone involved, whether it was Snowden himself, journalists or filmmakers (as well as the refugee families who later learned that Snowden was temporarily hosting Snowden in Hong Kong), were literally doing it. A great thing, but no one showed it the whole way. On the contrary, there are some moments where vulnerability is revealed, such as when everyone is shocked during a fire test, such as covering their heads and computers with a blanket when entering a password, such as taking off their glasses and rubbing the corners of their eyes when they learn that their family members have been contacted by the FBI, Hesitating to shave before appearing on camera, these moments send the message that even in the process of delieving a great thing, fear, weakness and hesitation are real and normal emotions that do not detract from any so-called "personality" brilliance".
After reading it, I went to follow up the news of Assange. He lived in the basement of the Ecuadorian embassy in the UK for eight years before losing asylum over the revelations about the Ecuadorian president and being handed over to the UK for possible extradition to the US. It was he and WikiLeaks who helped Snowden fly from Hong Kong to Russia, which is reminiscent of the words "Inheritance of Fire and Fire".
The world is fucked up, so fucked up, but there are still people who, albeit rare, are doing things that serve the public good.
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