Film Review | The Fifth Estate

★★★★☆

Directed by Bill Condon and based on two novels – one by Wikileaks partner Daniel Berg, the other by Guardian journalist David Leigh – The Fifth Estate is an enjoyable dramatisation of the tumultuous rise of whistleblowing website Wikileaks and the relationship between its two founders. The film opens with the now infamous release of classified US military information before rewinding to the first meeting between Julian Assange (Benedict Cumberbatch) and Berg (Daniel Bruhl). As Wikileaks’ popularity grows in the wake of its public unmaskings, the friendship between its two creators sours as they clash over Wikileaks’ mission and morals.

Read the rest of this review at Flicks and the City here.