Edward Snowden doc is as chilling as any thriller. Review by Brandon Wolfe One of the key traits that distinguishes Citizenfour from most documentaries is the way in which Laura Poitras’ film captures a landmark cultural moment as it occurs. Most documentaries – not all, but most – examine a subject from some distance, months or years after the fact, but Citizenfour allows us the opportunity to witness its seismic events unfold in real-time. Everyone always wishes they were a fly on the wall when something significant happens. Citizenfour puts us on that wall. The film’s subject, NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, reached out to documentarian Poitras and journalist Glenn Greenwald via unsolicited, encrypted emails in early 2013. Snowden designated them as the ideal vessels through which to release information to the public that he felt was crucial. In his years working as an NSA contractor, Snowden became privy to knowledge that the agency, using 9/11 as justification, had been ...