The Six Billion Dollar Man 2025 Movie Review
The Australian editor and publisher has been both criticised and revered for founding the media organisation in 2006, something which director Eugene Jarecki doesn’t fail to take into account when making a documentary based around the figure. The Six Billion Dollar Man is the filmmaker’s best documentary yet, reframing a story that everyone has heard of, developing it further to paint a complex picture, and delving deeper into the story that has been previously seen.
With the heavy amount of interviewees and information compiled into the film, it would have been easy for it to become convoluted, but the film’s chronological structure helps it avoid falling into this trap. The film is let down in moments by mismatched editing, as seemingly random clips were accompanied by voice-overs, making it pull its punches, and drags in others.
Prior to watching the documentary, I was unfamiliar with Assange’s story, too young to have been watching the news as it unfolded, but by the end of the film’s 126-minute runtime, I felt like an expert. Jarecki’s award-winning film was spotlighted at the coveted Cannes Film Festival, where it won a Special Jury Prize to mark the 10th anniversary of the L’Oeil d’or prize, the top award for nonfiction film.
And for good reason. The film takes a more complex stance on Assange than most, avoiding clichés of portraying him as the best or the worst person in the world.
Instead, it portrays Assange as just one piece of a bigger puzzle, about the issue of press freedom, particularly in Jarecki’s home country, the USA, where President Donald Trump has weaponised the phrase ‘fake news’ against articles he doesn’t like, banning the Associated Press from the White House in February due to a dispute over the term ‘Gulf of America’.
Assange’s release from prison after securing a plea deal following a 14-year legal battle with US officials is painted like a victory for journalism everywhere, with the words ‘keep up the fight’ used to end the film.
But it doesn’t shy away from Assange’s controversies either, lending a sympathetic hand to the two women in Sweden who approached the police to request that Assange take an HIV test after they became concerned they had contracted the disease following unprotected sex with the WikiLeaks founder.
The police visit was the catalyst for a series of events which saw Assange live in the Embassy of Ecuador in London for years to avoid extradition to Sweden to face a charge of rape of a lesser degree, for fear he would be sent to the US.
The investigation into the charges, which Assange denies, was dropped in 2019. However, he was then embroiled in a five-year legal battle in the UK, fighting extradition to the USA. Jarecki’s film paints a comprehensive picture of Assange and raises questions I kept thinking about long after the credits rolled, and for that, it’s well worth a watch.
