‘The Six Billion Dollar Man’ Review: Eugene Jarecki’s Julian Assange Doc Is a Jam-Packed Chronicle of Legal Persecution

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If you haven’t been keeping up with Julian Assange’s life over the past 15 years, you won’t fully grasp the significance of the title until the final half-hour of Eugene Jarecki’s new documentary, “The Six Billion Dollar Man.

For more than six years, Julian Assange had been in seclusion at the Ecuadorian embassy in London, with the threat of imminent arrest by British authorities looming. It was during this time that we discovered that the initial Trump administration proposed a $6.5 billion loan through the IMF to Ecuador’s government, provided they would expel Assange. This action, while not entirely surprising given Trump’s reputation as a dealmaker, underscores just how desperate U.S. authorities were to capture one of their primary targets.

A significant portion of Jarecki’s detailed, two-hour film, initially screened as a special event in Cannes, delves into the turbulent decade-long legal journey that Assange and his dedicated legal team were compelled to navigate. The movie occasionally feels repetitive during its numerous scenes set within the embassy, which, while historically significant, lacks the dramatic flair often associated with cinematic locations. However, it effectively conveys the feeling of confinement and escalating anxiety that Assange endured for years, despite not technically being in prison – his life was essentially under house arrest.

In my gaming world, playing the role of Julian Assange, I found myself starting as an unassuming Aussie hacker, barely making a ripple in the digital landscape. But then, something shifted – a leap from obscurity to acclaim as I became a beacon for free journalism, exposing truths that the world craved but dared not speak. However, this newfound hero status didn’t sit well with some powers, particularly those in the American government, who suddenly saw me as their number one enemy. The first half of “The Six Billion Dollar Man” chronicles this remarkable transformation.

Established in 2006, Assange’s small venture, WikiLeaks, gained significant attention in 2007 with the release of a video titled Collateral Murder, which exposed leaked footage showing U.S. Marines apparently killing Iraqi civilians. This clip remains troubling even today. In the ensuing years, WikiLeaks published numerous redacted documents online, such as military field logs, diplomatic correspondences, and a large number of controversial emails exchanged among members of the Democratic National Committee. (Jarecki includes an extensive extract that still holds the same impact it had initially.)

During this period, the internet was a time of great potential, with online journalism appearing capable of reshaping global dynamics. Edward Snowden, sporting a beard (presumably from Moscow), rhetorically asks, “Wouldn’t you rather know?” referring to the vast amount of information Assange was providing freely. However, this period would prove brief, as the U.S. retaliated against the numerous sensitive documents WikiLeaks was publishing publicly. One interviewee tells Jarecki, “A battle with the Pentagon can only end one way,” and the film portrays how our government tirelessly pursued Assange’s imprisonment, leaving him no choice but to seek political asylum, his only viable refuge.

Jarecki is well-acquainted with misuses of U.S. power, particularly in his early works like “The Trials of Henry Kissinger” and “Why We Fight“, which scrutinized harmful American foreign policies, ranging from the Vietnam War to the Iraq War. In the initial segments of his latest documentary, he effectively establishes the significance of Assange’s work, which exposed numerous embarrassing and potentially criminal actions under the presidencies of Obama and Trump. Neither leader is portrayed in a favorable light in this film.

During the initial years of WikiLeaks, a wealth of events unfolded that could have easily filled an entire television series. As a result, filmmaker Jarecki and his team of four editors had the challenging task of sifting through massive amounts of information to zero in on the aspects most significant to them, primarily focusing on Assange’s decade-long legal struggle in England.

At that juncture, two key figures enter the narrative: Firstly, Jennifer Robinson, a fellow Australian human rights attorney, who represented Julian Assange when he faced an international arrest warrant in 2010 and continued her support until his final days. Secondly, Stella Assange, an advocate for WikiLeaks and its attorney, who developed a romantic relationship with the organization’s founder while under embassy confinement, welcoming their first child during this time. Despite the ominous circumstances of that era, Julian Assange—whose legal troubles began with a subsequently dismissed rape investigation in Sweden—was fortunate enough to find his soulmate.

The movie, The Six Billion Dollar Man, is packed with numerous interviews (talking heads), old video recordings, security camera clips, secretly taken iPhone videos, and catchy soundtrack pieces that are somewhat predictable. For instance, M.I.A.’s “Paper Planes” plays as Assange throws real paper planes from a window in one scene. The filmmaking style may seem rather traditional compared to the man portrayed, who undergoes significant physical transformations as his long years of confinement pass.

In my gaming world, if a game has more meat than mere aesthetics like Jarecki’s film, it’s got the goods. And let me tell you, Naomi Klein hits the nail on the head when she says near the end of that flick, in a straightforward line that encapsulates what WikiLeaks was all about when it first emerged and what it stands for today amidst an era of widespread deception: “The truth counts.

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2025-05-22 03:55