由奧利弗·斯通指導(dǎo)的電影《斯諾登》于9月登陸各大院線，影評(píng)人對本片的評(píng)價(jià)也是褒貶不一。不過正如我本周所寫的那樣，如果你十分關(guān)心這場圍繞著國家安全所引發(fā)的爭議，并且也十分在意國安局（NSA）利用谷歌和臉書等民用技術(shù)監(jiān)視公民一舉一動(dòng)的做法，那么這部電影還是相當(dāng)值得一看的。

之所以說這部電影值得一看，還有一個(gè)原因是它將科技和黑客文化還原得十分真實(shí)。雖然斯通在片中將斯諾登英雄化了，但本片還是避免了好萊塢在處理科技題材時(shí)所慣常采取的一些愚蠢的描寫手法。我曾與該片的編劇凱倫·菲茨杰拉德和技術(shù)總監(jiān)拉爾夫·伊克曼迪亞談過，他們跟我說，斯諾登本人曾親自閱讀過本片的劇本，并親自修改了一些他認(rèn)為失實(shí)的細(xì)節(jié)。

《斯諾登》一片在技術(shù)細(xì)節(jié)的處理上可信度極高，主要體現(xiàn)在以下五個(gè)方面。

1. 斯諾登筆記本電腦上的貼紙

片中，斯諾登（由約瑟夫·高登·列維特飾演）前幾次掏出他的筆記本電腦時(shí)，你或許壓根沒有注意到這部筆記本上的紅綠貼紙。不過在最后幾幕中，觀眾才知道了它們是什么：其中一張代表電子前沿基金會(huì)（EFF），這是一個(gè)影響力相當(dāng)強(qiáng)大的民權(quán)機(jī)構(gòu)，總部位于舊金山；另外一張代表TOR，這是時(shí)下一項(xiàng)非常流行的網(wǎng)絡(luò)協(xié)議技術(shù)，能讓用戶在不暴露地理位置的前提下登陸互聯(lián)網(wǎng)。

EFF和TOR在現(xiàn)實(shí)世界中不僅真實(shí)存在，也在科技界中扮演著非常重要的角色。而且在現(xiàn)實(shí)中，這兩張貼紙也真的貼在斯諾登的筆記本電腦上。

2. 參議員羅恩·韋登亂入

參議員羅恩·韋登是美國國會(huì)中呼吁網(wǎng)絡(luò)隱私權(quán)調(diào)門最高的人，由于他具備深厚的技術(shù)領(lǐng)域的知識(shí)，因此他也受到了記者圈和硅谷的一致尊重。所以，當(dāng)電影演到NSA的監(jiān)控丑聞被斯諾登公之于眾時(shí)，片中引用的一些真實(shí)的新聞片段里出現(xiàn)了這位參議員的身影，也就不足為奇了。

3.片中的電腦屏幕是真實(shí)的

寫代碼是一件多么無聊的事，廣大程序猿朋友對此是深有體會(huì)的，哪怕是間諜在敲代碼，也一樣會(huì)讓觀眾覺得無聊。好萊塢對此有一個(gè)用濫了的套路，就是在一塊黑屏上飛速滾動(dòng)著一排排的綠色字符，片中人物以神之手速狂風(fēng)驟雨般地敲擊著鍵盤，一種高大上的逼格感分分鐘嚇尿不懂技術(shù)的文科狗們。然而《斯諾登》這部片子卻沒有玩弄這種玄虛。該片盡量還原了真實(shí)的編程過程，包括斯諾登在中情局培訓(xùn)學(xué)校中寫下的一串Bash命令都是真實(shí)的。

據(jù)菲茨杰拉德和伊克曼迪亞介紹道，斯諾登本人幫助他們真實(shí)還原了現(xiàn)實(shí)中美國國安局系統(tǒng)的登陸界面。另外，片中電腦上運(yùn)行的每一個(gè)程序都是由本人真實(shí)操作的，而不是演員隨便按下任意一個(gè)鍵，屏幕就開始播放早就制作好了的各種酷炫效果。

4. 黑客的“行話”

菲茨杰拉德表示，像《斯諾登》這樣的影片都面臨著一個(gè)挑戰(zhàn)，即如何既能對普通美國觀眾產(chǎn)生吸引力，同時(shí)又能真實(shí)地還原黑客文化。要解決這一挑戰(zhàn)可并不容易，因?yàn)榇蠖鄶?shù)觀眾既不了解也不在乎黑客的術(shù)語。本片很好地把握了這一平衡，片中大多對話都是正常的英文對白，但中間也夾雜著恰到好處的“行話術(shù)語”，從而提醒我們，片中這些角色都是如假包換的電腦專家。

這就是為什么片中不時(shí)會(huì)出現(xiàn)“SQL隱碼攻擊和惡意程序”、“零日攻擊代碼”、“對硬件ID進(jìn)行snarf攻擊”等諸如此類的對白——最后一句也是直接出自斯諾登本人之口。

5. 魔方

魔方這個(gè)道具在本片中多次出現(xiàn)，斯諾登在片中的多個(gè)場景里都擺弄過魔方，在一個(gè)劇情的緊要關(guān)頭，他還將一張小型SD卡藏在了一個(gè)魔方里，從而將機(jī)密帶出了國安局設(shè)在夏威夷的一個(gè)實(shí)驗(yàn)室。這個(gè)設(shè)定的確挺酷的，而且跟劇情配合得也相得宜彰，因?yàn)槟Х胶芎玫匾髁似械囊粋€(gè)關(guān)鍵因素——密碼學(xué)。魔方的解法甚至也是不少數(shù)學(xué)學(xué)者研究的對象。

據(jù)菲茨杰拉德說，魔方雖然只是電影人的演繹，但這個(gè)構(gòu)思卻是由斯諾登本人提出的。（在真實(shí)生活中，斯諾登一直沒有透露他是怎樣將機(jī)密帶出NSA的實(shí)驗(yàn)室的，但他表示他用的方法跟魔方的這個(gè)小把戲大同小異。）（財(cái)富中文網(wǎng)）

譯者：樸成奎

Critics are giving mixed reviews to Snowden, the Oliver Stone film that opens in theaters on Friday. But as I wrote this week, the movie is essential viewing for anyone who cares about the national security debate and NSA’s co-opting of familiar technology like Google and Facebook to spy on us.

One reason the movie is worth watching is the realistic depiction of technology and hacker culture. Even as Snowden engages in Stone-style propaganda to support its hero, it avoids the stupid clichés that often appear when Hollywood takes on tech topics. I spoke with screenwriter Kieran Fitzgerald and technical supervisor Ralph Echemendia, who explained that Edward Snowden himself read drafts of the film and corrected details he felt were inaccurate.

Here are five aspects of the film that make Snowden a convincing tale about tech.

1. The Stickers on Snowden’s Laptop

The red and green stickers are hard to make out the first few times that Snowden (well, Joseph Gordon-Levitt) pulls out his laptop. But in the final scenes it’s clear what they are: A sticker from the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the influential San Francisco-based civil rights group, and one for TOR, the popular protocol that lets people access the Internet without revealing their location.

Both the EFF and TOR are important fixtures in the tech world, and the stickers are also affixed to Snowden’s laptop in real life.

2. A Clip from Sen. Ron Wyden

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Or) is the most prominent voice in Congress for digital privacy, and his knowledge of technology makes him well-respected by journalists and by Silicon Valley. It’s no surprise then that, when the movie shows real-life news clips about the surveillance scandal revealed by Snowden, one of the people we see is Wyden.

3. The Computer Screens Are Realistic

Images of people—even spies—tapping away on computers make for boring movie footage, so Hollywood usually resorts to showing silly fake green display screen to make it more interesting. NotSnowden. The film takes pains to make the computers and coding appear accurate, including a series of Bash commands Snowden uses in a test at CIA training school.

According to Fitzgerald and Echemendia, Edward Snowden helped them to replicate what a real NSA log-in screen looks like. They also set up the computers on set in such a way that the actors had to actually navigate programs, rather than just tapping any button to trigger an impressive-looking response.

4. Hacker Lingo

Fitzgerald said a challenge in a movie like Snowden is to appeal to the American public, which includes many people who don’t know or care about geek-speak, while also remaining credible with hacker types. The movie gets this balance right by keeping almost all of the dialogue in plain English, but throwing in just enough hacker talk to remind us the characters are hard-core computer guys.

That’s why there are phrases in the film like “SQL injections and malware” and “zero day exploit codes” and “snarfing the hardware ID”—the latter phrase, said Fitzgerald, came right from Edward Snowden himself.

5. The Rubik’s Cube

A recurring image in the movie are Rubik’s Cube puzzles. Snowden fiddles with the toys in several scenes and, at a critical juncture of the film, hides a tiny SD card in a Rubik’s Cube square in order to sneak out secrets from an NSA lab in Hawaii. It’s a cool scene and also works well since Rubik’s Cube is a good metaphor for the cryptography that is an important part of the film, and is even the subject ofacademic papers by math scholars.

As it turns out, however, the Rubik’s Cube was a dramatization by the film makers—but one Edward Snowden himself suggested, according to Fitzgerald. (Snowden has not said how he got the data out of the NSA lab in real life, but said it was in a way similar to the Rubik’s Cube trick.)