Citizenfour is not playing at a theater near you

CITIZENFOUR - UNJUSTLY IGNORED BY THE MASS MEDIA

Laura Poitras, Glenn Greenwald

By Jerry Saravia

 As of November 9th, 2014, "Citizenfour" (the Edward Snowden documentary) has been playing in 51 theaters in the United States and has grossed in excess of 665,000 dollars. Why do I mention such box-office statistics? Because in a climate where comic-book franchises and some respectable Hollywood films in the fall season get released in over thousands of theaters, "Citizenfour" is being unjustly ignored by movie houses and practically all media outlets. I do not recall seeing a single television ad for the film, nor any interviews with the controversial filmmaker herself Laura Poitras nor the Guardian newspaper's own Glenn Greenwald on any TV talk shows of any kind (with the exception of Democracy Now! and Charlie Rose). Even a popular talk show like "The View," which has had its share of controversial political figures such as the revolting Ann Coulter or the polarizing Bill Maher, have not touched on the film nor discussed it (especially odd when you consider Nicole Wallace, the sole Republican and former advisor to Sarah Palin, is one of the hosts of the show). Of course, we have not seen interviews with Edward Snowden regarding the film, but that is to be expected since he is currently living in Russia for the next three years (I would rule out a satellite fed interview on the View, but disgraced former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich - no problem). Let's not rule out an appearance by the filmmaker or Glenn Greenwald at least on "Real Time with Bill Maher."

Maybe a gradual re-focus may occur since the film will be screened at the DOC/NY festival on November 18th, or perhaps if it is nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary. It could be that the film is being purposely downsized from its historical importance (and what Edward Snowden did was historic, love him or hate him, traitor or patriot) because it unveils the U.S. government's privacy invasion and intrusion in our daily lives (over a million-plus people are on a watchlist who are not terrorist suspects). Or maybe those who see Snowden as a traitor will not have a vested interested in seeing the film, thus blocking it is seen as the American thing to do. Still, the polarizing Oliver Stone is making a biographical film about Snowden having just cast Joseph Gordon-Levitt as the CIA/NSA whistleblower. As for "Citizenfour," the film is mandatory viewing, a taut, suspenseful and highly critical film about a post-9/11 environment where privacy invasion is legal (contrary to the Constitution) and forces the viewer to think how such massive, unwarranted surveillance is allowed. The fact that few in the mainstream media are discussing it or its relevance is to show that maybe Edward Snowden did the right thing - when you expose ugly truths about America, you and your film have to hide from the radar, from the national dialogue for fear of further retribution and unwarranted ridicule. Or maybe we should just focus on Pat Sajak's fake anger during a recent "Wheel of Fortune" segment.