We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks (2013) on Netflix
R20132h 10mDocumentary
Julian Assange founds WikiLeaks to publish secret documents. Chelsea Manning sends it classified military files, and the leaks set off a global fight over secrecy and the right to information.
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- Netflix3.8/5
- IMDb6.9/108,351 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes92%
Trailer
Plot summary
We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks examines the organization Julian Assange set up in 2006 and the people who gather and publish secret material. The film reaches back to a 1989 worm attack on NASA computers, depicted as the work of Australian hackers, Assange among them, and then follows the leaks that drew attention to the site between 2009 and 2010: Iceland's financial collapse, Swiss banking tax evasion, corruption in Kenya, and toxic-waste dumping. It also covers the release of the Collateral Murder video and batches of documents from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and American diplomatic cables. Assange took no part in the production, so earlier recordings were used, and Chelsea Manning was not available either.
Cast
- Heather Brookeas Self - Journalist
- Robert Manneas Self - Professor, La Trobe University, Melbourne
- John 'Fuzface' McMahonas Self - NASA Network Administrator
- J. William Leonardas Self - U.S. Government Classification Czar
- Daniel Domscheit-Bergas Self - Former WikiLeaks Spokesperson
- Smári McCarthyas Self - Icelandic Digital Freedom Society
- Birgitta Jónsdóttiras Self - Icelandic Parliamentarian
- Adrian Lamoas Self - Hacker
Show all 20 cast
- Timothy Douglas Websteras Self - Former Army Counterintelligence Agent
- Jihrleah Showmanas Self - Bradley Manning's Supervisor
- Philip J. Crowleyas Self - Former Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs
- Ken Dayas Self - Australian Federal Police
- John 'FuzzFace' McMahonas Self - NASA Network Administrator
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks (2013)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Julian Assange denounced We Steal Secrets before seeing it, tweeting that its title was "an unethical and biased title in the context of pending criminal trials" and that it was the prosecution's claim and false. Executive producer Jemima Khan said Assange told her a fair film would be pro-Assange.
- WikiLeaks published a transcript of the film annotated with what it called corrections; director Alex Gibney replied that the transcript was incomplete, lacked Chelsea Manning's words and came from an unreleased version, and he later published his own annotated rebuttal.
- WikiLeaks' annotated transcript raised the possible existence of a sealed US indictment against Julian Assange; associate producer Javier Botero said the claim rested on one boastful line in a 2011 leaked email from an ex-government official, with no other evidence emerging.
- Julian Assange did not take part in the production, so previously recorded interviews were used in the film; Chelsea Manning was also unavailable to be interviewed.
