The affected gestures toward urgency of Poitras' docu-Bourne shtick reach their limit almost immediately here, prompting an open effort toward evolution as a storyteller on her part. Cautionary valorization could only really work with a subject as unassuming and principled as Snowden; it all begins to curdle when the whistleblower starts tooting his own horn. So, in what was an astute and possibly the only available form of recalibration, Poitras inverts her project and examines her own motivation toward that…

My family went to a house party in 2005. While all the parents drank and chatted downstairs, all the kids were up in the playroom, shooting Nerf guns and watching Shrek 2. When the credits rolled, the host's kids popped into the bonus features and queued up this motherfucker. After every character performed their song, we were asked to vote on who should win. I put up my hand for Donkey's passionate performance of "Disco Inferno," but, of course, Prince…