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 century's most fiercely debated organization.

Director:

Bill Condon

Writers:

Daniel Domscheit-Berg (book), David Leigh (book)

Stars:

Benedict Cumberbatch, Daniel Brühl, Carice van Houten

2 wins & 3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Peter Capaldi	...	Alan Rusbridger
David Thewlis	...	Nick Davies
Anatole Taubman	...	Holger Stark
Alexander Beyer	...	Marcel Rosenbach
Philip Bretherton	...	Bill Keller
Dan Stevens	...	Ian Katz
Daniel Brühl	...	Daniel Berg
Benedict Cumberbatch	...	Julian Assange
Jamie Blackley	...	Ziggy
Ludger Pistor	...	Supervisor
Alicia Vikander	...	Anke Domscheit
Michael Kranz	...	Otto
Christin Nichols	...	Otto's Girlfriend
Christoph Franken	...	Game Console Hacker
Ben Rook	...	Young Julian

Storyline

The story begins as WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange (Benedict Cumberbatch) and his colleague Daniel Domscheit-Berg (Daniel Brühl) team up to become underground watchdogs of the privileged and powerful. On a shoestring, they create a platform that allows whistle-blowers to anonymously leak covert data, shining a light on the dark recesses of government secrets and corporate crimes. Soon, they are breaking more hard news than the world's most legendary media organizations combined. But when Assange and Berg gain access to the biggest trove of confidential intelligence documents in U.S. history, they battle each other and a defining question of our time: what are the costs of keeping secrets in a free society-and what are the costs of exposing them?

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Plot Keywords:

internet | pantyhose | red pantyhose | female stockinged legs | female stockinged feet | 

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Taglines:

You can't expose the world's secrets without exposing yourself.

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Genres:

Biography | Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language and some violence

Did You Know?

Trivia

On 7 October 2013, The Guardian ran a piece by journalist Ian Katz about the experience of being played in this movie by Dan Stevens. He pointed out that colleagues of his who were much more involved with the WikiLeaks revelations did not feature in the film, but dryly wrote that it was flattering to be played by an "Aryan pin-up".

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Goofs

The building Daniel is working in is supposed to be in Berlin. The building is in fact The Belgacom Tower in Brussels, you can even see the Belgian flag on top of the building.

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Quotes

Julian Assange: [Typing] There must be faith in leadership in times of crisis.

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Connections

Referenced in Film 2017: Episode dated 5 November 2014 (2014)

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Soundtracks

Always
Written and Performed by Amon Tobin
Courtesy of Ninja Tune

User Reviews

Quite a good movie with a terrific lead performance

As you can see from previous reader reviews the Assanginitas are going to be out in force denouncing this dramatization of Julian Assange's rise and fall. Ignore them. Like all "based on a true story" films people ad incidents were compressed for dramatic purposes. But the story overall is quite true. Benedict Cumberbatch captures Assange's preening narcissism and raging paranoia perfectly. He's especially adroit in scenes in which Assange tells lies only to revise them when the truth surfaces. Visually rich and very exciting this is quite different from anything Bill Condon has done before. This is an Alan J. Pakula style dram brought up to date with exceptionally flashy graphics and a breathless pace matching it's leading character's seemingly unstoppable drive. Edward Snowden, who was in contact with Assange at some point, is not mentioned. But Bradley (now Chelsea) Manning certainly is. I hope Condon has plans form making a Manning film in the future, cause he's definitely the director for it.

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook

Country:

USA India Belgium

Language:

English Icelandic Swahili Arabic

Release Date:

18 October 2013 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Man Who Sold the World

Filming Locations:

Hoeilaart, Belgium

Box Office

Budget:

$28,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$1,673,351, 20 October 2013

Gross USA:

$3,255,008

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$9,058,564

Company Credits

Production Co:

DreamWorks, Reliance Entertainment, Participant

Technical Specs

Runtime:

128 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital Datasat SDDS

Color:

Color Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1