We Are Legion: The Story of the Hacktivists

Anonymous, the collective of skilled hackers, has put fear into the hearts of businesses and governments across the globe. Documentary filmmaker Brian Knappenberger delves into the history of other "hacktivists" and draws a line to the loose-knit community of folks fomenting civil disobedience through technological resources. The film includes interviews with current members of Anonymous, writers and academics.

Knappenberger's film chronicles the rise of Anonymous from a disparate group hanging out in the forums of notorious website 4chan to the day recently when members of the Polish parliament, in protest of a vote they said would restrict Web freedom, donned their own Guy Fawkes masks in solidarity with the group.

We Are Legion can draw us into the discussion, not by sympathizing with those who willfully (if somewhat ignorantly) break the law, but by showing both sides of the story that our daily news accounts often skew in one direction.Sure it's funny-and we might even think it's right-what Anonymous could do with a button click. But being on the flipside, we wouldn't want to be one of their victims, even as a casual observer, merely by showing an opposing point of view. In that regard, We Are Legion would effectively create a great double feature with God Bless America from Bobcat Goldthwait, where a couple of killers are debating those acceptable to take a bullet for a country's cause drowned in a absence of civility.Knappenberger's film is fast-moving and informative; it will likely never take a look at it with their one-track minds to ensure a subsection of our culture. Although they should just learn a little bit more about a group waiting out there to teach you a little lesson about liberty of expression.

The film was written and directed by Brian Knappenberger and features the story of Anonymous assumed to stem from the imageboard 4chan. It also outlines major turning points and "operations" in their history. Angered by many diverse issues such as copyright abuse, police brutality, online censorship and would-be web controllers this loosely affiliated collective of hacktivists have organised both online and offline protests, cyber attacks on foreign governments during the Arab Spring movement and provided technical support to the Occupy movement.

Let me say up front that I have serious reservations about hacking as political tactic. The members of Anonymous attack anyone they don't like, without reference to any set of political principles or the likelihood that their actions will change anything. Based on the film's interviews with Anonymous members, they're motivated as much by the thrill of the hack as by any serious political agenda. I also question the filmmaker's selection of some of their interview subjects. One guy from New York is apparently incapable of uttering a sentence without using "f***" or "f***ing" at least twice. Barrett Brown, a so-called spokesman for Anonymous, is so affected it sounds like he's working on a William F. Buckley impersonation while waving around his unlit cigarette. When these guys tell you they're changing the world, it's a bit difficult to believe. This isn't a bad documentary - it's well done technically and it's certainly informative. What it didn't do was change my mind about the legitimacy and important of Anonymous.

To me the world is very unlike that of reviewer Thomas Chase who views this as a movie promoting crime. I didn't see a movie that promotes anything, but, it is about activism in different online forms. The activists themselves are doing most of the talking and it shows how loosely tied the group called anonymous is.

It shouldn't really matter if you are with this groups actions or not because it's about understanding their motivations and how groups like it can and will impact our shared future; sometimes with government crushing impact and sometimes for a cruel laugh at someones expense.

I came away feeling both uplifted and slightly scared, but whatever you feel it will make you think and to me that is always a good thing.