The only feasible explanation for the near universal plaudits being garnered on Citizenfour is that people are recording their approbation of Edward Snowden’s actions, not the film itself.

Laura Poitras’s doco is an execrable piece of film-making with no saving grace. The greatest proportion of the film takes place in a Hong Kong hotel room as ‘Call me Ed’ relates fragments of his reasoning and rationale to two journalists from The Guardian – when he’s not seen gelling his hair or musing what length his stubble should be. He is far from articulate and there were no insights or revelations to capture any interest. We don’t see his asylum flight to Russia as the director had hot-footed it back to Berlin after believing that she was being followed.

Snowden came across as something of a narcissistic dreamer with a Year 10 mentality. Like the British Cambridge spies before him, he’s probably now doomed to see out his days in alcoholic Moscow isolation when those who currently laud him lose interest when the next specious hash tag campaign comes along. 1.5 stars.