Everybody is familiar with most U.S. government agencies, like the CIA, FBI, IRS, and Secret Service, but I think the first time I learned about the NSA was in the 1998 film Enemy of the State with Will Smith and Gene Hackman. The NSA was jokingly nicknamed "No Such Agency," but the National Security Agency started way back in 1952.
In the many tributes and articles for the late Gene Hackman, one movie with the acting legend that was hardly mentioned was Enemy of the State. In the political action thriller, Gene Hackman reunited with director Tony Scott and producers Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer (from Crimson Tide) and joined an all-star cast.
Enemy of the State is about privacy versus government spying and surveillance. Released years before 9/11 and the Patriot Act, the film was ahead of its time. And now, thanks to social media and tracking cookies, it's not just the government that can observe our online social lives and behaviors.
Enemy of the State is underrated in a few respects. It's an underrated action film, among the underrated films of Gene Hackman, Will Smith, Tony Scott, Don Simpson, and Jerry Bruckheimer.
Some of the surveillance technology in the movie is a bit "Hollywoodized," but the film is not far from reality. It gives a perspective on how a society may have to make privacy sacrifices in the name of national security, and even though it is fictional, Enemy of the State is still an excellent film on the subject matter.
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