CANNES – A film about an urgent subject that, while not quite as incisive or focused as one would hope for, still manages to capture a precarious moment in time, Eugene Jarecki’s “The Six Billion Dollar Man” is both about and isn’t about Julian Assange. At least, not in the way you may think.
It is about how he started the site WikiLeaks, brought light to, among many things, the horrifying war crimes that were carried out by the American military with the video Collateral Murder, and ultimately took shelter in the Ecuadorian embassy after everything unraveled. At the same time, it’s a film with a surprising distance from its supposed central subject, instead relying on interviews with the people who know him, or even those who don’t, as it tries to evaluate what the state of government repression against the press looks like in 2025. It’s less about revealing something unknown about Assange than reflecting on his story, which has captured the world’s attention and brought the looming crisis facing us all into focus.
‘Resurrection’ Review: Bi Gan’s Sci-Fi Epic Is A Wondrous & Expansive Dream Of Pure Cinema [Cannes]
In this regard, the documentary is mostly a success in providing a comprehensive look at what exactly went down and why we should care about Assange’s impact on our present alarming shift towards a new authoritarianism. The man himself is someone who serves as a worthwhile point of entry to a broader conversation about fascist crackdowns on truth and the press to cover up what they don’t want known. Assange is a complex human being who is more than just a symbol. Though Jarecki clearly wants this to be established early, turning to none other than Edward Snowden to vocalize this idea and hedge against criticisms that he is creating a hagiography disguised as a documentary, we still don’t ever quite learn much of anything new about him besides what was already in the headlines. In other words, please don’t come to this expecting a robust profile of Assange, as it’s instead about taking us through the essential broad strokes of his story and why it remains critical to reflect on.
It does so through familiar documentary filmmaking, relying on talking heads, old clips taken by the team in the early days of WikiLeaks, and news footage of all the major events we will need to know about. Running at just over two hours, there is a lot of information that Jarecki wants to speed through, meaning there are also many moments where you wish he had taken a second to breathe and tug on an intriguing thread about more of the broader implications for journalism writ large rather than hurtle onto the next point.
It’s a documentary that aims for breadth rather than depth, creating a sense that we are mostly being taken through a Wikipedia summary at some of its weakest points. Thankfully, there are an increasing number of moments where everything snaps into focus and the bigger picture of why Assange is critical gets revealed. It’s not because he is somehow special, but precisely because of how he isn’t. The targeting that he faces is something that can happen to anyone who crosses a government that doesn’t want the truth coming out.
Much of the documentary then builds to being about the attempted extradition of Assange to the United States and the concerning impact this could have on press freedom generally. This doesn’t come to pass, but he does get sent to prison for an extended period before eventually getting released to return home to Australia. It’s a happy ending of sorts, one that the film embraces fully in a way that can feel a little forced, considering the threats that remain. However, the most memorable, worthwhile takeaways come in the way Jarecki steps away from the story of Assange to be about the forces that seek to silence those like him who expose them.
You wish it offered a bit more in the way of potential answers and ways to push back against this, though what is there is still substantive enough to make the film a worthwhile one. There is still much more urgent work to be done on the road ahead, but this serves as a fine enough starting point. [B-]
