File Review: Sneakers

Sneakers

Universal Pictures

Starring: Robert Redford, Ben Kingsley, Dan Akroyd, River Phoenix, James Earl Jones, Sidney Poitier, David Strathairn, Mary McDonnell.

Review by Emmanuel Goldstein

If there's one thing we can determine right off the bat, its that Sneakers is most definitely a fun film.  But whether or not it is a hacker film is a topic open to debate.  A good many of the characters are hackers, or former hackers.  And it is this skill which gives them the ability to do what they do: get into things they're not supposed to be able to get into.  The difference is that these people do it for profit.  And that fact alone is enough to make this a non-hacker movie.  After all, hackers don't do what they do with profit in mind.  But Sneakers is most definitely a film for hackers since there is so much in the way of technique that is illustrated.

The opening scene is a flashback to the ideologically correct era of anti-war marches and draft card burnings.  It's at that time that two hackers (complete with rotary phones and an acoustic coupler) get into some major trouble when they mess with Richard Nixon's bank account.  The stage is set, the time shifts to the present, and one of the hackers turns into Robert Redford.  He now runs a company that tests security, for a phenomenal fee.  (Some of our friends who actually do this kind of thing tell us that the fee is absurdly low for that type of work.)  His co-workers include a blind phone phreak who has remarkable perceptive powers, a hopeless paranoid who's convinced that everything is a plot of some kind, an ex-CIA agent who doesn't like to talk about why he left, and a kid who changed his grades by computer, no doubt after reading our Autumn 1989 issue.  This mixed up bunch, played by a well-above-average cast, is fodder for unique situations and dialogue.  And it's about time.

The action centers around the group's quest for a magic box which can supposedly decrypt any encryption scheme.  "There isn't a government in the world that wouldn't kill for this kind of technology," they aptly surmise.  The existence of this magic box is the one truly silly element of Sneakers.  Fortunately, the remaining technical issues contain only trivial flaws, such as lack of a delay on a multi-satellite phone call or the fact that everybody seems to use compatible equipment.  We must recognize that (((Hollywood))) needs to take some liberties with reality.

As the group continues its quest for the Holy Box, they become caught up in the whole FBI-CIA-NSA world, leaving the viewer with a less than satisfactory judgment of how the world of intelligence works.  This was without doubt precisely the intention.

In many ways, Sneakers is a political thriller and one which doesn't miss an opportunity to throw some political barbs.  George Bush and the Republican Party are the favorite targets of this "culturally elitist" production.  Again, it's about time.

But best of all is the fact that Sneakers at no point tries to send a moral message about hacking.  Rather, hackers are looked upon as a reality; there are people who do this kind of thing and they have a useful place in society.  With the kind of information being recorded these days, you need some of that hacking ability to be able to figure out what's really happening.  True, this knowledge can be misused and distorted, as the film demonstrates.  But that is human nature.  If the good hackers were to disappear, only the evil ones would remain.

Sneakers manages to send a serious message without taking itself too seriously.  In fact, the confrontation between the NSA bigwig (James Earl Jones) and the group carrying the magic box is remarkably reminiscent of Dorothy and friends meeting the wizard after getting the Wicked Witch of the West's broomstick.  A great man probably once said that the best way to send a serious message is through humor.  Sneakers does this and still keeps the audience on the edge of their seats.