Snowden -- Film Review The Lovers and the Despot -- Film Review Cycling Home From Siberia -- Book Review

Snowden

Directed by Oliver Stone




Every American should see this film as well as every citizen of every other country on earth.  This is a story about a true American hero, a man of principle and basic decency, who understands the Constitution and what American democracy is all about.  And he was appalled by what he saw in the innermost recesses of the American government.  He had the courage and the strength to take meaningful countermeasures.  He knew he would be vilified, discredited and crushed.  But he was very smart and savvy.  He didn't let them destroy him and he continues today as a living repudiation of the excess, criminality, and utter disregard for law, human rights, and our own Constitution within this well protected, secret, cancer within the American government.  What makes Snowden a hero is not his brains, but rather his character, his courage, and his values. 

The film tells the story of Snowden's career in the government from his failed attempt to join the special forces in the military to his work as a CIA operative in Geneva, from which he resigned in disgust, to his work for the NSA under the guise of a subcontractor.  The film depicts his evolution, not within himself so much as in his perception of the activities of his government and his orientation toward the activities he was expected to further.  He went from facilitator to saboteur.  He remained true to himself throughout.  His values, his basic decency and common sense, and his sense of himself as a person remained solid.  He was not a self-doubting, self-questioning, ambivalent Hamlet.  He knew from the first moment that what he was seeing was outrageous and the development that he went through was a growing understanding that these atrocities and villainies were not aberrations or anomalies, but rather pervasive, institutionalized patterns of conduct.  He knew he couldn't just walk away from it.  He wanted to strike a blow against it.  He knew it would be at great personal cost, but he had the strength in his character and the resourcefulness to pull it off.  It is a marvelous story of the triumph of courage and goodness.  This film portrays what is good about America, and depicts an American who believes in the goodness of the American vision and who had the fortitude and inner resolve to take a stand against these dark forces that are unfortunately prevailing within our government at present. 

He was lucky to get Lindsay Mills as his girlfriend.  Unusual to get a good girlfriend.  The film gives considerable attention to their relationship and I think rightly so.  It personalizes the story and it emphasizes the human cost of taking on a formidable, sinister adversary such as the CIA or the NSA.  Their relationship hit a few potholes.  Not surprising with a hardcore paranoid like someone in the intelligence game has to be.  Such a person can never talk to you; they can never tell you what's really going on.  A relationship with this type of person always has an atmosphere of remoteness or distance overshadowing it.  But she saw something pleasing in him and persisted with him.  Lindsey had some background experience with intelligence officers in her family that served her well.  At the end the film tells us she went to Moscow to live with Snowden after the whole thing blew up.  There appears to be a good strong bond between them that is vital and alive. 

The film is a dramatization, a docudrama I guess one would call it, that sympathetically and straightforwardly tells the story.  It is very well made, all of the technical aspects are of the highest caliber, the editing and organization are flawless.  It creates a low key tension that steadily builds throughout the film, as Snowden becomes increasingly alienated from the work and the organizations he is in service to.  There is not a lot of spectacle, not a lot of dramatic action, but the film takes hold of you and does not let go. 

I went on a Tuesday night and there weren't very many people in the theater.  That theater should have been packed to the rafters.  This is what the American people should be paying attention to.  The presidential candidates are arguing about grabbing pussy, when the NSA is grabbing every e-mail, every phone conversation, every financial transaction, every item that is viewed and read, of every single citizen in the United States and around the world.  One good thing that the film makes clear is that this is not benign.  One can say to oneself, as Lindsay did, "I have nothing to hide, so what makes the difference?"  The film exposes the naiveté of that shallow thinking, and presents several cases that illustrate how innocent information can be used to pressure or coerce a person for a political or public purpose. 

The CIA understands that information is power and gathering personal, financial, sexual, and political information on every citizen gives it enormous potential power over every aspect of public and private life in a society.  These information gathering operations are about extending the power and control of this small coterie of paranoids within the U.S. government, ultimately, over every person on the planet.  The so-called War on Terror is exposed for the sham that it is, a public relations device to promote an atmosphere of fear, and direct public attention toward false concerns, namely remote and vague external threats, while the much greater threat to our democratic institutions, our civil liberties, and our freedom to associate, move about, and speak freely is right here within the CIA, the NSA, and the Obama administration, surreptitiously spying on the public and private communications and activities of every citizen.

Edward Snowden falls into that great tradition of American heroes who exposed the folly and evil at the heart of the American government: people like Daniel Ellsberg, Philip Agee, Jim Garrison, John Stockwell, Frank Snepp, David Stockman, Chelsea (Bradley) Manning, Wayne Madsen, as well as many others lesser known, who all paid a heavy price for standing up to this vast, sinister, secret network intent on extending its power and domination over every person and every aspect of human life, not only in the United States, but around the world.  They are utterly ruthless and protected by secrecy that has been legally substantiated.  This secret, shadow government that is steadily growing in power and reach is blatantly unconstitutional, but political leaders aligned with it, and often promoted by it, have insinuated themselves into the legal apparatus and subverted the institutional structures that were established to prevent the very activities that these secret networks are engaged in. 

Edward Snowden stood up to them and struck a hammer blow against them.  They have yet to snuff him out and he still represents a hopeful dissent against this steadily creeping tyranny that is enveloping American society.  I recommend this film in the strongest terms to every patriotic American citizen. 



The Lovers and the Despot

Directed by Ross Adam and Robert Cannan




This film is about political intrigue.  It purports to represent a true story.  It is always hard to tell what "true" means when you're dealing with an autocratic police state.  Before we get in to that I will say that the film is a little hard to follow at the beginning.  This is about Koreans who are unfamiliar to a provincial American like me.  They are introduced rather abruptly and without a lot of depth.  I found myself struggling to sort out what was going on at first and decipher who was who.  There are three important characters that emerge as the film plays out:  Kim Jong-il, Choi Eun-hee, and Shin Sang-ok.  But at first it is hard to get a handle on who these people are and how they are related.  Shin was an ambitious Korean film maker and Choi was a star in his films.  They got married, adopted some children, and made a lot of films together.  Shin got interested in a younger woman at some point, they divorced, and then it gets interesting.  Incidentally, the young woman who precipitated Choi's and Shin's divorce drops out of the picture without comment. 

What happens is that Choi Eun-hee gets kidnapped by North Korean intelligence agents in Hong Kong and is taken surreptitiously to North Korea.  From the western point of view, she simply vanished without a trace.  I think this retelling is probably true, that is, the kidnapping part.  I don't think Choi Eun-hee had any idea what was happening to her.  Whether Shin might have had a hand in orchestrating this kidnapping of his ex-wife with the North Koreans I wonder about.   It is possible, but the film does not consider that possibility and makes it appear unlikely.  Later on, her ex-husband, Shin Sang-ok, is also kidnapped and whisked to North Korea.  He is kept in prison for five years.  He attempts an escape, is recaptured and put in solitary confinement until he comes to see things differently, after which he is reunited with Choi Eun-hee and becomes partners with Kim Jong-il in making movies.   I'm not sure how much of this I believe.  It has some plausibility, but there may be a lot more to it than we are being given.  These are all people who are masters of illusion and masquerade and storytelling.  Shin was an operator as was Kim Jong-il, so it is hard to tell what negotiations might have gone on outside the script of this film.  All we know is that this is the story they are telling us, and all of the principals have an interest in presenting the story in a certain way.  The filmmakers did not take a critical approach to their retelling.  They are giving us mostly Choi Eun-hee's version of events. 

The most interesting aspect of this whole affair and the driving force in the film is also the least explored, namely, Kim Jong-il.  His obsession with films, his desire to see North Korea generate great films that would be recognized and admired in the West is one of the few flashes of authenticity and personal honesty in a society where almost all expressions of authentic personal sentiment are squelched.  His interest and motivation is clearly not strictly propaganda and promotion for the North Korean regime.  He had that kind of a film industry and he despised it.  He didn't want self aggrandizement, but genuine art, so he kidnapped the two people he felt were best suited to do it.  And they struck a deal -- after he made them an offer they couldn't refuse.  This was the most intriguing part of the story and the part I don't really get. 

They point out that Kim Jong-il was raised in isolation and not allowed to have friends or playmates as a child.  He probably retreated into a world of fantasy and like many people who become obsessed with films lived an ersatz life through the characters and stories seen on the screen.  In another time and place he might have become a film director or a producer.  This story is an attempt to act out that fantasy.  It suggests an avenue into the secluded heart and soul of Kim Jong-il, but they don't take this tack in the film. 

Shin got what he had always wanted, namely, unlimited budgets to make the kind of films he envisioned.  And he achieved international recognition, at least in Europe.  They continued with this film making partnership for eight years and then for reasons that are unspecified Shin and Choi pulled off an escape in Vienna and turned themselves in to the American Embassy seeking asylum.  I think there is a lot more to this than what we are presented with.  What this film offers is a digest, almost a public relations piece, that features Choi Eun-hee's point of view.  Shin did not do well in Hollywood after defecting to the West.  Maybe he should have stayed in North Korea.  He died in 2006.  The circumstances of his death are not explored either.  The story is interesting and there is a lot about it that remains mysterious.  This film is not a full and complete treatment of this subject by any means.  I think a book would be a better way to approach this story.


I don't think this film will be popular with Americans because these Korean film people are unknown here and Shin's films are not the sort that would get any traction with American audiences.  I am sure the film would get a lot more response in Korea, but it is mostly in English with a decidedly American slant.  The story is fascinating, but I found Kim Jong-il the most interesting of all the characters presented.  Unfortunately, they weren't able to interview him for the film.
Cycling Home from Siberia.  By Rob Lilwall.  New York:  Simon & Schuster/Howard Books.  2009. 




I bought this book for my nephew, who is a top level cross country mountain bike racer.  I wasn't going to read the whole thing, just a cursory overview to insure it would hold his interest, but the book caught hold of me and I read it all the way through.  I recently bought a new bike myself (an eBike) and am thrilled with it.  I've been riding it every day and taking longer and longer trips with it.  So I related to Lilwall's adventure quite readily.  I don't think I will cycle through Siberia in the winter time, but I do feel inspired by his example to take more ambitious journeys on my bicycle. 

The book is a narrative of Lilwall's grandiose project of cycling back to England from the eastern coast of Siberia by way of Japan, Korea, China, The Philippines, Indonesia, New Guinea, Australia, Malaysia, Cambodia, Vietnam, Tibet, Nepal, India, Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Turkey, Greece and back through Europe to England.  It took three years to complete this 35,000 mile trek, most of it done on a bicycle, some of it by ship or ferry.  He cheated a couple of times and flew back to England leaving his bike in storage at the disruption point in his journey.  Once for the illness of a family member and once for the wedding of his sister.  After a brief rest at home he flew back to the point where he had left his bicycle and resumed the trip.  But who is to call it "cheating" since, after all, he was the one making the rules. 

He started off with his friend Al Humphreys through Siberia in the winter time -- a very ill advised venture -- but they made it.  Al was a more experienced biker and adventurer, and had it not been for him, Lilwall would probably have not survived the Siberian winter.  They split after reaching Japan, Humphreys deciding to take a more direct and safer route back to England.  LIlwall continued on through jungles, deserts, mountains, war zones, and, probably most hazardous of all, cities.  It is an adventure story, but most of the adventures are low key.  The Siberian winter and crossing the jungle in New Guinea are pretty dramatic, as is his passing through Afghanistan in war time.  But generally, the substance of the book is making steady progress toward a far off goal, keeping focused on the plan, conquering small challenges, enduring numerous hardships, and dealing with unexpected setbacks.  It is a story of conquest by small steps.  It is about self discipline and determination.  It is about physical endurance.  It is about making small, but vital, human connections.  There were only rare moments of self doubt, when he considered abandoning the project and just going home.  No one was forcing him to do this.  No one was paying him.  He had no deadlines other than the ones he set for himself.  The incentives and motivations were strictly internal.  This was one of the things I found intriguing about it.

He is not very clear about what the incentives and motives were.  This book is not a searching exploration of the inward heart.  He is not Hamlet or Underground Man.  He does introspect and he does reflect on himself and what he is doing, but I don't see him as a person of great insight or psychological acuity.  As a biker, you have to be constantly focused on the external challenges and hazards that confront you moment by moment.  This is his mentality and this is mostly what he writes for you to read about.  

Toward the very end, as he is approaching England and the impending end of the journey is looming before him, he reflects on the trip and the effect it has had on him.  His Epilogue discusses his subjective feelings and perspective on the whole project with more frankness and self revelation than anywhere else in the book.   

The day after, I went back to London and knew that I had to get on with the rest of my life.  I'd heard that some travelers had a sense of fulfillment and completion at the end of their journey, while others struggled with a feeling of anticlimax.  My experience was more the latter.  I did not feel any sense of achievement, but rather a strange emptiness.  Clearly, as Al said to me over a pizza a while later, such adventures "are not the answer to every man's midlife crisis."  For a while I thought that in my case the journey had actually provoked one in me.  Some days my confidence plummeted, my faith felt shaken, and on a couple of frightening occasions I felt despair might overwhelm me.  . . .

I had been cycling more than three years with the tangible goal of getting "home" on my bicycle.  Now that I was "home," I tried to remember the reason why I was trying to get here.  When I thought about it, I could hardly work out why I had set out on the journey in the first place.  (p. 389)

He is not a self knowing man.  He is a lucky man and an resourceful man.  He was in many situations throughout the trip that could have gone very badly or even fatally, but he always managed to somehow wing his way through and keep going.  I think this inward drive to keep going forward toward the goal in the face of mountainous hardship, this inflexible iron will to face down any deterrence, this ability to improvise and scramble and find a way no matter what, are the most salient features of his character that the trip elucidated, honed, and tested. 

Probably the best accomplishment and the most enduring legacy of the trip was that he found a good woman, Christine, in Hong Kong, whom he married after he returned to England.  But it is not fair to say that the trip was a search to find a woman or a mate, not at all.  He met Christine toward the end of the first year of  the trip, but he did not abandon the trip to pursue Christine and be with her.  No, he stuck to his original plan and made Christine wait roughly two years, which amazingly, she did. 

He talks throughout the book about his Christian faith and the role it plays in his life, but the trip is not a "spiritual quest," or an attempt to achieve any sort of "enlightenment."  He doesn't seem to be in any sort of crisis or conflict over his religious outlook.  He doesn't have a deep knowledge of the Bible or religious issues.  He is not a questioning sort.  He doesn't see religious faith as problematic, which I found a little disconcerting.  This guy is not a deep thinker, but there is a deep restlessness, a vague sense of dissatisfaction, an emptiness that demands filling, inside him.  He is not in touch with it directly.  He doesn't understand it.  But he experiences it as this need to focus his energy on some large goal, to set arduous tasks for himself and apply himself to conquering them.  This man is a conqueror, like the Brits of centuries ago, who went around the world colonizing it and subduing the indigenous peoples they came in contact with.  He gets some respite from his inner lethargy through applying himself to these challenges that are much larger than himself.  But achieving these mammoth tasks does not solve the problem.  Like Alexander, impelled to press ever onward, his monumental conquest brings him back to his starting place once again, but perhaps with the pieces of his inner self rearranged. 


He was an English teacher and he writes well, which makes this book readable and enjoyable.  He describes people, landscapes, sequences of events, incidents, with interest and illuminating detail.  This keeps the book moving and keeps the reader engaged.  He constantly meets new people throughout this trip and his descriptions of them and brief glimpses he offers into their lives is one of the more engaging aspects of the book.  My original intent was only to check the book out casually and hand it off to my nephew, but his skill in writing and describing the people and events and small incidents of his trip kept a hold of me and made me stay with it and finish it.  It is a very interesting, personal, human interest adventure story.  It made me want to get out there on my new bike and take some longer trips of my own.