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The Fifth Estate

  • 2013
  • R
  • 2h 8m
IMDb RATING
6.2/10
43K
YOUR RATING
Daniel Brühl and Benedict Cumberbatch in The Fifth Estate (2013)
A dramatic thriller based on real events that reveals the quest to expose the deceptions and corruptions of power that turned an Internet upstart into the 21st centuryÂ’s most fiercely debated organization.
Play trailer2:32
25 Videos
68 Photos
True CrimeBiographyCrimeDramaThriller

A dramatic thriller based on real events that reveals the quest to expose the deceptions and corruptions of power that turned an Internet upstart into the 21st century's most fiercely debate... Read allA dramatic thriller based on real events that reveals the quest to expose the deceptions and corruptions of power that turned an Internet upstart into the 21st century's most fiercely debated organization.A dramatic thriller based on real events that reveals the quest to expose the deceptions and corruptions of power that turned an Internet upstart into the 21st century's most fiercely debated organization.

  • Director
    • Bill Condon
  • Writers
    • Daniel Domscheit-Berg
    • David Leigh
    • Luke Harding
  • Stars
    • Benedict Cumberbatch
    • Daniel Brühl
    • Carice van Houten
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    6.2/10
    43K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Bill Condon
    • Writers
      • Daniel Domscheit-Berg
      • David Leigh
      • Luke Harding
    • Stars
      • Benedict Cumberbatch
      • Daniel Brühl
      • Carice van Houten
    • 130User reviews
    • 209Critic reviews
    • 49Metascore
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 2 wins & 3 nominations total

    Videos25

    Trailer #1
    Trailer 2:32
    Trailer #1
    The Fifth Estate
    Clip 1:15
    The Fifth Estate
    The Fifth Estate
    Clip 1:15
    The Fifth Estate
    The Fifth Estate
    Clip 0:27
    The Fifth Estate
    The Fifth Estate
    Clip 0:56
    The Fifth Estate
    The Fifth Estate
    Clip 0:53
    The Fifth Estate
    The Fifth Estate
    Clip 0:46
    The Fifth Estate

    Photos68

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    Top cast99

    Edit
    Benedict Cumberbatch
    Benedict Cumberbatch
    • Julian Assange
    Daniel Brühl
    Daniel Brühl
    • Daniel Berg
    Carice van Houten
    Carice van Houten
    • Birgitta Jónsdóttir
    Alicia Vikander
    Alicia Vikander
    • Anke Domscheit
    Peter Capaldi
    Peter Capaldi
    • Alan Rusbridger
    David Thewlis
    David Thewlis
    • Nick Davies
    Anatole Taubman
    Anatole Taubman
    • Holger Stark
    Alexander Beyer
    Alexander Beyer
    • Marcel Rosenbach
    Philip Bretherton
    Philip Bretherton
    • Bill Keller
    Dan Stevens
    Dan Stevens
    • Ian Katz
    Jamie Blackley
    Jamie Blackley
    • Ziggy
    Ludger Pistor
    Ludger Pistor
    • Supervisor
    Michael Kranz
    Michael Kranz
    • Otto
    Christin Nichols
    • Otto's Girlfriend
    Christoph Franken
    • Game Console Hacker
    Ben Rook
    • Young Julian
    Lucinda Raikes
    Lucinda Raikes
    • Julian's Mother
    Marleen Lohse
    Marleen Lohse
    • Tacheles Waitress
    • Director
      • Bill Condon
    • Writers
      • Daniel Domscheit-Berg
      • David Leigh
      • Luke Harding
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews130

    6.243.4K
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    Featured reviews

    7FilmMuscle

    The Confused State

    The Fifth Estate is a film that's bound to attract a considerable amount of controversy and end up with a fairly divisive crowd, and that's basically why you're witnessing the overwhelming negative reception from critics. Ultimately, bias will sweep in and largely contribute to your final thoughts on the film, essentially depending on what side you're on. Admittedly, this picture paints a villainous image for Julian Assange, especially as the plot progresses, and a plethora of reviewers apparently took issue with that, including Mr. Julian Assange himself. Well, there are also those critics that post their extremely vague negative responses to the film that don't exactly address a particular fault within the movie's content and definitely produce a sense of shadiness in terms of what exactly drove them so crazy over its material.

    Anyways, let's focus on my reaction to the feature in general with as much honesty as possible. I won't lecture you on how much you should hate the NSA and the government's surveillance activities nor should I protest such anarchists' decisions. I'll judge the film as it should be judged, but of course, the level of its accuracy should absolutely be considered. Concentrating on the strengths at first, right off the bat, it's quite obvious just how exceptional the lead performances from Benedict Cumberbatch and Daniel Bruhl are, and as usual, Cumberbatch carries that impressive volume of charisma with him where you simply can't take your eyes off his mannerisms and speech (I believe I already noted this in my Star Trek review); in short, his portrayal of Julian Assange is terrifically veracious. Daniel Bruhl, coming off of his memorable performance in Rush, makes his mark yet again, playing a foil to Julian in a way. Furthermore, The Fifth Estate unquestionably works as a full-fledged thriller with the several twists and turns throughout. The story, itself, is compelling and though it's abundantly filled with journalistic terminology and complicated concepts, you're forced to dedicate twice the attention to the screen.

    On that note, The Fifth Estate suffers from a highly noticeable and detrimental flaw: its messy execution. What fundamentally follows persistently throughout the narrative are perplexing scenes that leave the audience scratching their head- and not in a good way in case you're asking. The movie's editing style and script will doubtlessly leave you confused in numerous instances. While you're attempting to understand how exactly a specific action or trade works, the film casts you into another situation that leaves you baffled yet again, and this really stems from- as previously mentioned- its wide array of terminology and the fast pace with which it irresponsibly deals with its explanation to the moviegoers. This is precisely why The Social Network shone in its brilliance: it was perfectly comprehensible and continued with remarkable execution- the pure opposite of The Fifth Estate. By the time the story comes to a conclusion, you will have likely properly sorted the film's ideas but to have a thriller work is to avoid placing your interested crowd into a muddled and jumbled predicament as it lessens the satisfaction and surprise that comes with a thrilling experience.

    At the end of the day, The Fifth Estate is great in that it sparks a mixed reaction and requires both extreme sides of the table to continuously argue over the rightfulness or criminality of Wikileaks' existence and the path that Julian Assange took to see it to success. There are too many factors to just definitively point out if you should or shouldn't view it. However, if you're not one for complicated, fast- paced political thrillers, this probably won't be an enjoyable time at the movies. Otherwise, there might be something here that'll get you thinking about the whole debacle of our privacy vs. the so-called "evil government."
    7mohancraig

    Not what I expected

    As I was driving to the theater I was thinking about what my review might sound like based on just what I'd seen in the trailers, it sounded something like this "all journalist get into the business for the right reasons such as making the world a better place but it usually winds up being more about celebrity status after a while, this movie demonstrates the true initial journalistic urge"... well I was completely wrong and the movie did just the opposite of confirming my suspicions.

    The movie starts out by convincing you of the genius and passion of Julian Assange where you feel compelled to see him as a champion for justice but about half way through you start to see him as a real A**hole (this is as the movie portrays him, not my personal view), as it proceeds his character gets worse... almost villainous (not that he surrounded by angels; mind you).

    I think it worth a look especially if you were not aware of the WikiLeaks phenomena as it was occurring, I for one found much of it informative and I believe it will raise some awareness about censorship in the media and the plight of genius (if not bordering on madness but isn't that always the way?).
    7blanche-2

    I actually liked it

    I know I'm in the minority, but I liked "The Fifth Estate." Others will agree with me, though, that the best thing about it is Benedict Cumberbatch, who does brilliant job as Julian Assange.

    I come at this film from a slightly different point of view because I still don't know what was so fabulous about "The Social Network." I understand the comparisons due to the similar stories. People seemed to find "The Social Network" incredibly compelling, but I guess it's a generational thing - I just didn't.

    I attended this film with a friend who had only a vague knowledge of Wikileaks, and he absolutely loved it and found the "redaction" scenes toward the end of the film tense and suspenseful, as I did.

    I realize that some of the film may be fictional, and that Wikileaks is a controversial subject. I can't pretend to know the truth. Cumberbatch portrays Assange as an egomaniacal, protective, arrogant man who refuses to compromise, even when information may hurt people. His right hand, Daniel (Daniel Bruhl) begins to see that Assange's dictatorial attitude and paranoia has gone too far and is actually in the long run going to hurt what could have been an important organization.

    What should we know, and when should we know it? Assange wants to release unedited documents onto the World Wide Web. Yet in the beginning of the film, he wants at all costs to protect sources. He seems to forget that later on. That's all in the film, based on two books that we're told are biased.

    Still, The Fifth Estate raises some interesting questions and also talks about the challenges we face now with news going out onto the Internet. I think some transparency is healthy; I don't think banks should help customers cheat the U.S. out of $30 billion in taxes; but I don't believe military strategy should be leaked, and I believe that sources should be protected. It seems like so much of what we hear today, from politicians and celebrities and publicists is "spin." And most of us are aware that there's more than they're telling us.

    As far as the acting, Laura Linney and Stanley Tucci are marvelous in small roles; Cumberbatch gets excellent support from Bruhl, Alicia Vikander, Jamie Blackley, and the rest of the cast.

    In short, Cumberbatch's performance should be seen and appreciated. I think this film has gotten a bad rap. It's certainly not an awful film.
    ulfahl69

    Benedict Cumberbatch great actor but the movie is propanganda attack on Wikileaks

    WOW! Berg guy is totally self righteous a hole. You don't even have to know anything about the subject matter and you know this movie is totally BOGUS! A complete smear campaign on the founder of Wikileaks. "People love the true WikiLeaks story: a small group of dedicated journalists and tech activists who take on corruption and state criminality against the odds," Assange writes in his statement. "But this film isn't about that. ... Instead of the exciting true story, we get a film about a bland German IT worker who wasn't even there and a fabricated fight over redactions with the old newspapers and the State Department saving the day. The result is a geriatric snoozefest that only the US government could love." "As justification it will claim to be fiction, but it is not fiction. It is distorted truth about living people doing battle with titanic opponents. It is a work of political opportunism, influence, revenge and, above all, cowardice."
    6muthink

    Benedict Cumberbatch only plays villains

    As I walked into the theater with my wife, she asked me again what this film was about. I said, its about Wikileaks. I told her about Assange and the mission of Wikileaks. I had already had my own formed opinions about Assange, but refrained from sharing it with her. I was curious to see what her reaction was and what her opinion of Wikileaks and Assange was after the film.

    The film was not bad. It was sort of an attempt to make a Facebook style film about Wikileaks and although it nowhere measured up to the quality of "Social Network." Its attempt was commendable and all-in-all, it was not a waste of the 18 Euros we spent to see it.

    However, what really bothered me throughout the entire film was Cumberbatch's portrayal of Assange. I could see he was trying very hard to mimic Assange to the best of his ability, but I either don't think he had it in him or he was purposely playing Assange a lot crazier than he appears in real life. I have seen lots of interviews with Assange, who in my mind, comes across a bit like a mixture between a politician and professor. Cumberbatch, on the other hand, came across as a sort of eccentric nut.

    The next thing that bothered me is where the film decided to stop. Basically, it skimmed over the current scandals, making Assange sound like more of nut than Cumberbatch's portrayal. The last five minutes especially sunk into me the feeling that the film unfairly portrayed Assange.

    And my suspicions were confirmed. I asked my wife what her opinion of Assange was as a good or bad guy, and she seemed to indicate she was leaning towards bad. The last few minutes of the film, basically sunk that message in loud and clear.

    My conclusion is, that, this film is a good example of the new way of being critical. Pretend to be fair and at the last minute, throw up a bunch of negative facts.

    I believe that combining the positive portrayal of the U.S. state department with the crazy portrayal of Assange, was neither fair nor accurate. History will probably judge this film as just another propaganda piece of the corrupt powers that be.

    If I were to write this film, I think it would have been much more interesting to concentrate on the incidents of human rights abuses rather than on the Assange himself. It would have also had the positive effect of encouraging, rather than discouraging whistle-blowers. This film does not seem to inspire anything.

    Assange was right about the film.

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Julian Assange emailed Benedict Cumberbatch to ask him to not to participate in the film.
    • Goofs
      After Julian and Daniel fight and finally split up there is a shot of the streets outside Daniel's apartment by night. Two cars drive past backwards, revealing the film has been played in reverse.
    • Quotes

      Julian Assange: If you want the truth, no one is going to tell you the truth, they're going to tell you their version. So if you want the truth, you have to seek it out for yourself. In fact that's where power lies, in your willingness to look beyond this story, any story. And as long as you keep searching, you are dangerous to them. That's what they're afraid of: you. It's all about you. And a little bit about me too.

    • Connections
      Featured in The Agenda with Tom Bradby: Episode #4.1 (2013)
    • Soundtracks
      Stompbox (Spor Remix)
      Written by Liam Black, Leon Harris and Daniel Arnold

      Performed by The Qemists

      Courtesy of Ninja Tune

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    FAQ23

    • How long is The Fifth Estate?Powered by Alexa
    • What does the title mean?
    • Is the movie anti-WikiLeaks?
    • What does the tagline "You are the fifth estate" mean?

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • October 18, 2013 (United States)
    • Countries of origin
      • United States
      • India
      • Belgium
    • Languages
      • English
      • Icelandic
      • Swahili
      • Arabic
    • Also known as
      • El quinto poder
    • Filming locations
      • Domaine provincial d'Hélécine, 2 rue Armand Dewolf, Hélécine, Walloon Brabant, Belgium(White House interior scenes)
    • Production companies
      • Dreamworks Pictures
      • Touchstone Pictures
      • Reliance Entertainment
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Budget
      • $28,000,000 (estimated)
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $3,255,008
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $1,673,351
      • Oct 20, 2013
    • Gross worldwide
      • $9,058,564
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      2 hours 8 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
      • Black and White
    • Sound mix
      • Dolby Digital
      • Datasat
      • SDDS
    • Aspect ratio
      • 2.35 : 1

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