No ordinary whistleblower
XY CHELSEA
In 2010, during the war on Iraq, Private Chelsea (then Bradley) Manning sent around 750,000 classified documents to WikiLeaks – the biggest leak of state secrets in US history.
This fragmentary, oddly dreamy documentary starts with her emotional release from jail, where, as a trans woman, she served seven years of a 35-year term in a male prison under conditions a UN torture envoy described as ‘cruel, inhuman and degrading’, before Barack Obama commuted her sentence in 2017. Fragile, wistful and deeply sad, Manning is a fascinating, painfully vulnerable subject – both her parents were heavy alcoholics.
That she’s now back behind bars for refusing to testify before a grand jury about her involvement with Julian Assange and WikiLeaks is acknowledged in a tacked-on ending dating from March of this year.
With Manning and her story still evolving, there’s a ‘too soon’ feeling about this feature. Still, with Manning’s memoir supposedly out next year, you can bet a movie biopic is already in the works.