Watch Underground: The Julian Assange Story
- NR
- 2012
- 1 hr 35 min
-
6.6 (2,081)
"Underground: The Julian Assange Story" is a 2012 Australian film directed by Robert Connolly. The movie depicts the early life of Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks founder, during his teenage years up until the creation of the infamous whistle-blowing platform. The film begins in 1989 when Assange, played by Alex Williams, was a teenager living in Melbourne, Australia. He was passionate about hacking and wanted to uncover the truth hidden behind governmental and corporate secrets. Assange shared his aspirations of exposing the truth with his friend, Suelette Dreyfus, played by Laura Wheelwright.
The story follows Assange's life as he journeyed through the underground world of computer hacking, using his genius intellect to break into and expose secrets of powerful companies and governments. His exploits caught the attention of the Australian Federal Police, who launched an investigation seeking to capture him and put an end to his activities.
The film portrays Assange's constant clashes with authority figures; however, he continued his efforts in exposing the lies and corruption in public and private institutions. The movie also presents the early relationship between Assange and his mentor, Prime Suspect actor Anthony LaPaglia, who played the role of journalist John Pilger.
As the movie progresses, the audience gets to see the transformation of Assange from a young man passionate about computer programming to a fierce advocate for transparency in all industries. The film showcased the challenges he had to overcome as he became a fugitive from the law, always on the move to escape from those who wanted to silence him.
The film culminates in the founding of WikiLeaks and its first release of sensitive documents, which caught the attention of the world. The audience sees the ramifications of Assange's action, as various governments and corporations reacted to the release of confidential information, which threatened to destabilize their power structures.
Rachel Griffiths played the role of Christine Assange, Julian's mother, who acted as a support system for her son in his quest for the truth. The film also touched on the strained relationship between the two as Assange's activities led to trouble with the law.
Overall, "Underground: The Julian Assange Story" is a thought-provoking film that delves into the early life of a man who had a significant impact on the world today. The movie showed a human side of Julian Assange and his motivations to speak out against censorship and to expose the truth, even at great personal risk. The film was well-acted, with strong performances from Alex Williams, Anthony LaPaglia, and Rachel Griffiths. The film successfully portrays the complex nature of Assange's character, his motivations, and his actions.
Underground: The Julian Assange Story is a 2012 drama with a runtime of 1 hour and 35 minutes. It has received mostly positive reviews from critics and viewers, who have given it an IMDb score of 6.6.