We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks
We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks Image
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Metascore
76

Generally favorable reviews - based on 20 Critics What's this?

User Score
7.5

Generally favorable reviews- based on 10 Ratings

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  • Starring: ,
  • Summary: Award-winning documentary director Alex Gibney turns his camera on WikiLeaks, its founder, Julian Assange, and the global debate over access to information.

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 15 out of 20
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 20
  3. Negative: 0 out of 20
  1. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Elizabeth Weitzman
    May 23, 2013
    100
    The vastly divergent paths of Assange and Manning make up the most fascinating aspects of this relentlessly compelling film.
  2. The Playlist
    Reviewed by: Gabe Toro
    May 22, 2013
    91
    Despite a lack of access to Manning and Assange, We Steal Secrets is a vital document of a pivotal moment in world history that we’re still experiencing as we speak.
  3. Philadelphia Inquirer
    Reviewed by: Steven Rea
    Jun 7, 2013
    88
    It's complicated. And it's fascinating.
  4. New York Magazine (Vulture)
    Reviewed by: David Edelstein
    May 20, 2013
    80
    By the time this twisty, probing, altogether enthralling movie hits its final notes, the crimes against the Constitution and humanity have been upstaged by personal demons. Which is our woe as well.
  5. St. Louis Post-Dispatch
    Reviewed by: Joe Williams
    Jun 6, 2013
    75
    Gibney is as dramatic a storyteller as the Hollywood directors with whom he competes for our attention, and he employs a big bag of tricks.
  6. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: A.A. Dowd
    May 22, 2013
    75
    Truthfully, Assange’s absence from We Steal Secrets—regardless of the reasons for it—is a major liability, and not just because it prevents Gibney from truly engaging with his headline-grabbing subject. Without a strong personality at its center, the film often feels unbalanced, lurching awkwardly between basic infotainment concerns and a sharper, more specific agenda.
  7. Variety
    Reviewed by: Peter Debruge
    Mar 21, 2013
    60
    The conflict at the core of the WikiLeaks saga is dramatically lacking.

See all 20 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 2
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 2
  3. Negative: 0 out of 2
  1. dmilner
    Jun 12, 2013
    6
    A good, but flawed documentary. Had it examined the ego of Julian Assange in more depth, which clearly drives the man to follow through with his own vision, no matter what trail of human destruction he leaves in his path. Since a lot of the events covered received widespread media coverage, viewers may be desensitized by the shocking details documented. Overall, a good watch, but ultimately a case of what could have been.… Expand
  2. hoops2448
    Sep 10, 2013
    4
    A piece of documentary film making can pick its topic and We Steal Secrets has picked WikiLeaks as its topic or so I thought when I started watching. What it really is, is a documentary about the perfect storm of Julian Assange despite the inherent promise in the title to tell the story of WikiLeaks. When Julian Assange and the men and women behind WikiLeaks brought down the Icelandic banks, people took notice and as Assange's leaks got more and more severe the nature of the information game changed, some say forever, others agree that this radical movement will fade. While Assange is a worthy topic of debate and discussion all We Steal Secrets seems to do is obfuscate the filed of view so much that its hard to interpret quite what happened during Assange's short and harmful time in the public eye. The story tries to keep you hooked but the story is shown from so many sides with differing accounts that you lose the plot in the swarm of information and half truths. The film tries not to depict him as a saint by showing the lives he has inadvertently ruined but it does try to justify his actions by painting him as a maverick, even going so far as to show Assange celebrating by dancing to Lady Gaga in a nightclub. It's a surreal image that will stick with you as the film nonchalantly glosses over certain aspects to try and maintain the delusional idea that WikiLeaks is a website of journalistic integrity despite Assange's bizarre actions towards the end of the film. Ultimately its WikiLeaks without any of the specifics as it concentrates on an interesting yet thoroughly corruptable person who in the end was exactly the person everyone thought he would turn out to be.… Expand

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