<i>Snowden</i>: The whistleblower

Snowden is true to its subject but lacks the drama you would expect from the powerful, real-life story

When Edward Snowden is unable to serve in the US Special Forces because he isn't physically fit enough, he applies to join the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). His interviewer informs Snowden he would not make the cut. Ordinarily, he adds. But this was the post-9/11 world and American intelligence agencies were short of brains. "I'm going to give you a shot," the interviewer tells a grateful Snowden, who replies, "You won't regret it." How he turned into the recruiter's worst nightmare is the basis of Snowden, Oliver Stone's biopic about the fugitive American whistleblower, which hit US theatres on Friday.

The interview is one of the lighter moments in the film starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt in the title role. Snowden premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) on September 9, just two days before the anniversary of the event that prompted its protagonist to volunteer to serve with the US forces in 2004. "That's the most dangerous part of the Iraq war, and he wanted to go fight for his country," Gordon-Levitt noted, speaking at TIFF.

Ever since he became known as the person who copied and leaked classified information from the National Security Agency in 2013, and sought asylum in Russia even as the US government demanded he return to face charges, Snowden has split public opinion in his country and around the world. There is no such ambivalence in Stone's film: choosing between the tags of "hero" and "traitor", the director puts him firmly in the first camp. At TIFF, Stone said, "Americans don't know anything about (surveillance) and they still don't and the government lies about it all the time. What they're doing is illegal and they keep doing it and they get better and better at what they do."

The film opens with Snowden's unsuccessful stint in the Special Forces. His unfortunate interviewer at the CIA, named Corbin O'Brian in the film, goes on to become a mentor in the agency. Snowden impresses him from the very beginning, and after a stellar show in a hacking test, the young recruit is offered his choice of assignments. But Snowden discovers the sordid side of spying early on in the process of cultivating a Pakistani-origin banker as a source in Geneva. The script takes a few digs at Pakistan, cementing the country's current status as a global troublemaker and source of terror. "He's the cleanest Paki I've ever seen," Snowden's colleague says about the banker, referring to his lack of ties to Pakistani authorities, the ISI or terrorist outfits.

  But when the source's life is nearly ruined by the actions of American agents who are blithely indifferent to his fate, and Snowden's colleague shows him how the government was snooping - even watching live feeds via webcams of private laptops - on everyone within a few degrees of separation, Snowden resigns in disgust. He later goes back to work for the CIA as a contractor, ending up in Hawaii on his last assignment.

Snowden also deals with his personal life and his on-off relationship with his girlfriend Lindsay Mills, played by Shailene Woodley. It's when he realises the US government was snooping on her as well that he decides to blow the whistle. The film depicts a colleague in Hawaii as a silent ally at the crucial moment when Snowden needs to make a getaway.

Gordon-Levitt delivers a strong performance as Snowden, down to his uncanny physical resemblance and understated delivery. The film is paced well enough, moving between times and locations. But it lacks the tension one might expect from the story of the biggest-ever leak of government secrets. Nicolas Cage, who's always good for some fireworks in any role, is reduced to a pen-pusher. Even the moments that could be mined for drama, when Snowden is copying the data and escaping with it, are dealt with a little too casually, so that when he finally emerges from the facility into the golden sunlight, the viewer doesn't really feel enthralled or engaged. It's clear the director is rooting for Snowden, but he provides few opportunities for the viewer to join in.

Director Oliver Stone, Gordon-Levitt, Shailene Woodley, Melissa Leo and Zachary Quinto at a press conference for the film at the Toronto International Film Festival

A brief appearance by Snowden himself at the end seems staged and awkward, but then he's not a professional actor. Stone, who travelled to Moscow to film with Snowden, called on US President Barack Obama to pardon him before leaving the White House next year. But he struck a pessimistic note about the future. "Mr Obama could pardon him and we hope so," Stone said. "We hope that Mr Obama has a stroke of lightning and he sees the way. He's been one of the most efficient managers of this surveillance world. The most extensive, invasive surveillance state that ever existed - he's created it."

Perhaps the Oscar-winning director can take heart from his own film that shows even the might of the omniscient, omnipotent American intelligence apparatus was defeated by an item that has boggled millions of more ordinary minds over decades - the omnipresent Rubik's Cube.