Underground: The Julian Assange Story

Whenever a movie has some political agenda or seems to, the reviewer votes divide into haters and lovers, ten stars vs one star and so on. I am an admirer of Wikileaks, but I can't view this movie so singlesidedly. Instead, I have to compare it to similar movies like Operation Takedown or even Hackers. Also, I have to take into account that this is not a big budget American movie, but an Australian TV drama.

On that scale, Underground is surprisingly good. I wouldn't know how factual it is, but take into consideration that it is based on a book (that is freely available online) about the hacker culture, written when Julian Assange was a nobody. It has no connection to Wikileaks at all and none of the Assanges consulted on the movie (even though Julian himself said he liked it when he saw it).

The actors were well chosen, the boy looks like Assange a bit, and they all acted pretty well. There are two known names in the cast: Rachel Griffiths as the mother and Anthony LaPaglia as the cop chasing him. As for the story, it was eerily similar to Operation Takedown: the morally driven hacker that raises a middle finger to authority in his quest for truth. Unlike Mitnick, though, he only paid a 2100$ fine allegedly because the judge sympathised with his family's "nomadic lifestyle".

As for the main complaint, that the movie doesn't explain the motivations of Julian Assange, that is a good thing. Several pieces of the puzzle are presented: his obsessive personality, his cult leader step dad, his morally outspoken mother, his discovery of American misdoings in the first Gulf War. They all are just pieces. Many other exist and it is the role of the viewer to get or not interested in putting them together.

My conclusion is that for people not interested in the hacker culture or specifically Assange, the movie will seem pointless. For the others, though, it is a good watch. There is, of course, some dramatization, changes of perspective and so on, but in the end it does well what it set to do and that is why I recommend it wholeheartedly.

Underground has great actors and an even better story line. This movie should be more popular than it is. I'm not sure how much of the movie is real because I'm not Julian Assange, but I can say you can tell they tried to make it as accurate as possible. Considering I grew up using computers in the late 80's and onward I can easily understand this movie. For someone that has only been around computers for the past 5-10 years might have complications trying to understand the movie. I haven't been able to get the complete story on how computers were adapted in other countries in the late 80's so that was interesting for me to see represented in the movie.

I feel the pieces left out in the movie are left out for a reason. This is a movie that was made to entertain and inform. We all know if you want the full story you must read the book or do research. You have to expect some parts left out in the film.

I like Underground because it is not biased. The movie gave me a story of a hacker and it let me formulate my own opinion of him. My opinion is that I cannot give this movie a bad review considering what is being played in theaters and popular today.

You cannot help noticing the people that actually watched the movie gave it rave reviews.

I can quote Marianno Gorgeski "He is our Che Guevara of the modern internet era." Couldn't say it better myself. Also like he said he is trying to do more for the world than Facebook and the like are trying to do. That is why he is seen as a threat.

The only summary that I came up with after watching this film is Julian Assange is seen as a genius because the world has become lazy and incompetent. If the people demanded the truth like they should I think we would all praise Julian for what he stands for.

WATCH THIS MOVIE !!!

Don't watch, "We Steal Secrets," cuz that one isn't factual at all.

WikiLeaks Army

Calling on high What are we to do Countrymen lied but we had no clue Too busy making money to keep up with the Jones The land of milk and honey turned into dry bones

Yes, the land of the free and the home of the brave has spent all our money putting souls in the grave Our leaders have lied Stealth is their reason Their alibi we've all committed treason

They caught them and killed them engaged in denial but say it's all legal no need for a trial Spy on you and make you swear to God it's true Then tell you forget you not your business you're through

And this one killed that one and that one killed this so forever they'll kill more to make it all bliss And powers belong to the ones who have guns or the ones who own the biggest mansions

No more rights Some more laws Add some torture won't you No more truth Can't withdraw That's the best they can do And if you speak out for humanity's sake you ought fear for your life cuz that they can take

Who shall be bold to the world I do ask just me and my poems to fulfill this task Nay I say to you all there's an army out there so stand straight and stand tall for they are prepared

The invisible war being fought on mainframes is just a memoir of all their war games It's the truth of this matter that will set us all free and for that we can thank WikiLeaks army

How much 'fact' is involved with this story of Julian Assange early life I do not know. But the movie as itself stands as great entertainment, perfectly cast and with a fantastic script!

Alex Williams as the young Assange gives a powerhouse performance of a young man focused and driven by his wanting to expose 'the truth' and not cause damage in the process. And he achieves his goal even with the dial-up internet of the late 1980's and early 1990's.

The 'authorities' are full of disdain and envy for this group of geniuses and their knowledge of up and coming technology. Assange laid the groundwork for the digital oversight 'the press' has failed to utilize in their mission as the fourth estate to keep an eye on corruption in the state and corporations.

This movie shows that Assange is a 21st century hero!

close to truth, excellent biography movie and no matter how low the budget for the movie was the acting was so strong that after first 15 minutes you start not to notice the lacking of resources invested in the project. The story itself is inspiring fact that there are much more brilliant causes in this life than creating apple or face-book. He is our Che Guevara of the modern internet era. Love this movie. Unfortunately enough its not a Hollywood production, and will never gain the popularity of our facebook generation, and many mainstream thinkers will simply vote this down. I would classify this on the ranking list above pirates of the silicon valley with respect to screen shot and acting as well as historical value and society importance. Bravo for our fellows Australians that have made such a wonderful movie four digital hero of the century for our digital robin hood.