Some films entertain you, while others stay with you long after the lights come up.
The Six Billion Dollar Man belongs to the second category. It delivers a quiet shock that settles into you slowly. As the story unfolds, the film keeps raising questions that refuse to disappear.
Although framed as a documentary about Julian Assange, the story reaches far beyond one man’s life. It becomes a portrait of what truth demands in a world that feels increasingly unstable. More importantly, it shows what happens when someone refuses to hide information that powerful institutions prefer to keep buried.
An Unusual Guest at Cannes
Before I even saw the documentary, its presence at the Cannes Film Festival caught my attention. Julian Assange appeared at Cannes in May 2025, which was extraordinary in itself. He arrived to accompany the premiere of The Six Billion Dollar Man. The film follows his life as an Australian activist whose extradition from Britain was sought by the United States government.
Assange’s story stretches across long, difficult years: two years under probation, five years behind bars, and seven years confined inside the Ecuadorian embassy in London. He finally walked free in June 2024. During the Cannes event, former Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa joined the discussion. Under his leadership, Assange received protection at the embassy. Filmmaker Eugene Jarecki appeared as well, offering insight into why he chose to tell this story. The moment felt historic. Even the YouTube clip of the session, which has more than sixteen thousand views, carries the energy of something rare.
An Afternoon at Tuschinski I Won’t Forget
Later that year, I saw the film for the first time at IDFA, the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam, on Wednesday November 19th, 2025. Inside the historic Tuschinski Theatre, the atmosphere carried a sense of anticipation. When director Eugene Jarecki stepped onto the stage with Australian human rights lawyer Jennifer Robinson, the entire audience rose in a standing ovation. The reaction came instantly, without hesitation. It felt raw, honest and deeply emotional. I walked out with the feeling that I had witnessed more than a screening.
Assange has been treated as a symbol for years. Sometimes he is cast as a hero, sometimes as a threat. Often he is reduced to a headline. Instead of repeating those patterns, Jarecki shows someone far more complex. Assange appears brilliant yet exhausted, idealistic yet frightened, determined yet deeply human.
Eugene Jarecki Understands Power
Jarecki knows how systems behave. His earlier films — Why We Fight, The House I Live In, The Trials of Henry Kissinger — reveal the mechanics of power with clarity and calm precision. Because he avoids sensationalism and focuses on understanding, his work earned Sundance Grand Jury Prizes, Peabody Awards and wide respect.
This film carries that same DNA. Although the story moves with the tension of a political thriller, every moment stems from real events. Tension rises because the stakes rise. Jarecki uses rare access to WikiLeaks archives and previously unseen footage, which allows him to rebuild the Assange timeline with unusual depth. Through that access, he captures not only the details but also the emotional weight behind decisions that shaped history.
The Truth Feels Heavier Now
The world around us has changed. Information spreads faster than understanding. Rumours outrun facts. Meanwhile, governments expand surveillance while promising safety. Journalists face growing pressure and danger. Democracies feel increasingly fragile.
While watching the film, one idea kept returning: truth carries a cost, and that cost is rising.
Two moments in the documentary stand out with particular force.
The first involved a Guardian journalist who revealed the actual password to a classified WikiLeaks file in his book. Instead of protecting the information — or protecting Assange — he exposed the key to one of the most sensitive data sets in modern journalism. The betrayal created a cascade of consequences that the film explains with painful clarity.
Then there is the story of Sigurdur “Siggi” Thordarson, the teenage Icelandic volunteer who infiltrated WikiLeaks. He gained Assange’s trust, collected his deepest operational secrets, and then turned on him. As The WikiLeaks Mole, his actions became a central part of the chain of events that shaped Assange’s collapse. The film treats this episode with the gravity it deserves. It is a reminder that not all threats to truth come from governments. Some come from much closer, and far more unexpectedly.
Many people assume that free societies protect transparency. They expect journalists to work without fear. They believe whistleblowers will receive support. The Assange case challenges those beliefs. Instead of confirming our ideals, it shows how easily systems built to defend truth can also silence it. Revealing wrongdoing becomes a personal risk.
Rather than telling viewers what to think, Jarecki allows the complexity to stand. That choice gives the film honesty and weight.
Writing from Amsterdam, I left the theatre with the sense that this story marks a turning point in how we understand transparency.
By Bart Hendrikx.