As part of the Cinema of Urgency series at the Walker Art Center this month, we went to see the film Secrecy.

From an artistic perspective, the film was well done and incredibly engaging. Secrecy is not a very visual topic, so it was fascinating to see how the filmmakers took on this challenge and addressed it.

From a topical perspective, the film is pretty unsettling. Some of the stories told illustrate how significant the amount of secret information is compared to the amount of available information. It costs billions of dollars a year for this information to stay secret and the cost and amount of secret information is growing at an alarming rate.

The film tries to balance the stories of secrecy ‘saving’ and secrecy ‘corrupting’. The cost of secrecy is high in terms of our foundational way of living and thinking. If something is secret it cannot be part of the fundamental checks and balances that the founding fathers of this country put in place. Having the secrets means having the power. Power corrupts.

One of the concerning things about this to me is that overall people aren’t aware that much of this is happening. So I’m doing my part on my blog and talking about the movie.

Here are a couple of additional links:

• Secrecy: Official Film Website
• Review from Sundance
• Link to Walker blog post