--- title: "The Great Hack" year: 2019 kind: "film" canonical: "https://film.one/film/the-great-hack" fi1m_id: "the-great-hack" imdb_id: "tt4736550" tmdb_id: 566222 wikidata_id: "Q65285210" fi1m_score: 65 critics_score: 67 critics_reviews: 12 published: "2026-10-03T01:02:01.973163+00:00" updated: "2026-10-03T01:02:02.484667+00:00" region: "TH" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # The Great Hack (2019) Directed by Karim Amer, Jehane Noujaim · 1h 54m · Documentary ## Identity The Great Hack - **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/the-great-hack - **Type:** Film - **Fi1m ID:** the-great-hack - **IMDb ID:** tt4736550 - **TMDB ID:** 566222 - **Wikidata ID:** Q65285210 - **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4736550/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/566222, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q65285210 **Fi1m score: 65** · Critics 67 from 12 reviews *In a sentence:* Cambridge Analytica might have liked this much confidence in its powers > Karim Amer and Jehane Noujaim offer a useful, unsettling introduction to data harvesting. Their documentary is worth considering for its account of lost privacy, but it never properly establishes how much political persuasion the stolen information achieved. ## Synopsis David Carroll, an associate professor at Parsons School of Design, wants access to his own personal data. His search takes him into the Cambridge Analytica scandal and the use of harvested information to target voters. Brittany Kaiser, the company’s former director of business development, offers an insider’s perspective on its political work. Carole Cadwalladr, an investigative journalist for The Guardian, examines the business from outside it. Between Carroll’s request and Kaiser’s account, the documentary follows attempts to establish what the company collects, how it uses that material and how much the people being profiled can discover about the process. ## Review Karim Amer and Jehane Noujaim want us to stop thinking of personal data as harmless scraps of information. *The Great Hack* follows the Cambridge Analytica scandal with enough clarity to make that change of mind possible. It is a useful, unsettling introduction, though its confidence about political manipulation runs ahead of the evidence it presents. We learn why the collection of our information matters, but the film becomes much less careful when it considers what that information can achieve. David Carroll gives the film its clearest question: can he obtain his own data? An associate professor at Parsons School of Design, he provides a way into the subject that does not depend on accepting the company’s claims about its influence. We were unsettled by his search, because the film makes asking for information about himself feel like an investigation. Staying close to that request gives the documentary something concrete to pursue, and its explanation of data harvesting is useful. Brittany Kaiser is a more difficult choice of centre, and that difficulty supplies much of the film’s interest. A former director of business development at Cambridge Analytica, she gives the directors someone whose account cannot be separated from her own involvement. Her conflicted position is absorbing, and the film is right to spend time on it. The trouble comes when attention to her personal standing displaces questions about the company’s methods; too much of the explanation rests on her authority as an insider. The animated graphics give a visible form to the personal data people leave behind, and this is where the explanation becomes easiest to follow. The photography by Ian Moubayed and Basil Childers has a quieter job, keeping us engaged with the people describing a largely invisible process. With Kaiser, that attention works because her account invites scrutiny as well as interest. But the graphic illustrations sometimes make the methods seem more fully explained than they are. Editors Carlos Rojas Felice and Erin Barnett move between Carroll’s search, Kaiser’s account and the wider political story, with some strain in the changes of direction. Repeated warnings begin to cost more time than they earn across 114 minutes. Gil Talmi’s music reinforces the urgency, although we would have welcomed less encouragement to be alarmed. There is enough here to hold our attention without insisting quite so often that the stakes are high. The largest unanswered question is how effectively Cambridge Analytica changed anyone’s mind. Explaining that personal information can be collected and used to target voters does not establish what made those voters choose as they did. The directors give us too little detail about the methods to assess the company’s supposed powers for ourselves. We needed a clearer examination of what would count as evidence of success, and of how much of that evidence actually exists. An investigative documentary has to be willing to slow down over the evidence, even when the larger story is alarming. Here, the eagerness to convey danger sometimes makes a necessary follow-up question seem like a distraction. There is enough clear explanation to reward an interest in data rights, especially in Carroll’s search. If that is what brings you here, it is worth an evening, provided you keep a little scepticism for the company’s powers of persuasion. *Fi1m score 65, published 3 October 2026.* ## What the critics say Most critics find The Great Hack an unsettling, accessible account of Cambridge Analytica and the political uses of personal data. Praise clusters around its explanations of data harvesting, its international scope and the graphics that make digital surveillance easier to understand. Several reviews find the documentary gripping, with David Carroll’s attempt to recover his own data giving the wider scandal a concrete human focus. Brittany Kaiser also draws interest, though responses to her role differ sharply. The spread is wide: reservations concern both the storytelling and how convincingly the film establishes political influence. Some otherwise positive reviews find repetition, a fragmented narrative or insufficient scrutiny of whether voters actually change their minds. Slant Magazine argues that the focus on Kaiser weakens the explanation of Cambridge Analytica’s methods. Variety admires the energetic account of the scandal but objects to the simplified explanation of Trump’s victory and the film’s faith in regulation. ## Straight answers **Is The Great Hack worth watching?** *The Great Hack* is worth considering if data rights interest you; we score it 65 for its useful, unsettling account of lost privacy. David Carroll’s attempt to obtain his own information gives the documentary a clear focus, but we find its claims about political manipulation less convincing: it never properly establishes how effectively the harvested data changes voters’ minds. **How long is The Great Hack, and what is it rated?** *The Great Hack* runs 1h 54m. It is a documentary film. **Where can I watch The Great Hack in Thailand?** *The Great Hack* is streaming on Netflix in Thailand. Availability is checked daily; the links above go straight to each service. **How does The Great Hack compare to Citizenfour?** *The Great Hack* offers an accessible introduction to data harvesting, but we recommend [*Citizenfour*](https://film.one/film/citizenfour) as the more patient and searching documentary about surveillance. Its sharper attention to individual responsibility and tense record of Edward Snowden talking in a hotel room make it the stronger choice, while *The Great Hack* suits viewers specifically interested in Cambridge Analytica and personal data rights. **What should I watch after The Great Hack?** After *The Great Hack*, try [*Citizenfour*](https://film.one/film/citizenfour) (2014, Fi1m 83): A more patient documentary about surveillance, with sharper attention to individual responsibility. Then [*The Conversation*](https://film.one/film/the-conversation) (1974, Fi1m 92): Surveillance becomes a private moral crisis, observed with patience and mounting unease; and [*Collective*](https://film.one/film/collective) (2019, Fi1m 88): An investigation that lets careful reporting expose the workings of institutional corruption. ### Reviews we read (12) - **The Guardian**, Peter Bradshaw (90/100, inferred): Bradshaw finds the documentary gripping and chilling, a forceful exposé of data-driven political manipulation. He singles out its account of a campaign in Trinidad and Tobago that encouraged targeted voters not to vote. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/jul/23/the-great-hack-review-cambridge-analytica-facebook-carole-cadwalladr-arron-banks) - **Radio Times**, Andrew Collins (4/5): The critic calls the documentary a terrifying warning about information mining. The review singles out its focus on data as a valuable commodity and David Carroll’s quest to obtain his own data. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-ex3fhl/the-great-hack/) - **Time Out**, Tomris Laffly (4/5): The review presents the documentary as an essential look at data theft. It singles out its globe-spanning scope and timely subject matter. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/the-great-hack) - **Evening Standard**, Lucy Hunter Johnston (★★★★✩): The review finds the documentary worth watching, though it never satisfactorily examines whether Cambridge Analytica actually changed voters’ minds. It praises the film for prompting viewers to reconsider data use and the powerful’s willingness to corrupt. [Read](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/tvfilm/netflixs-the-great-hack-review-the-inside-story-of-the-cambridge-analytica-scandal-a4197606.html) - **Los Angeles Times**, Kenneth Turan (70/100, inferred): Turan finds the documentary timely, significant and unsettling, with an involving account of how personal data can be used to influence elections. He especially praises its clear explanation of Cambridge Analytica’s data harvesting and its consequences. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2019-07-23/great-hack-netflix-documentary-cambridge-analytica-big-data) - **Sight and Sound**, So Mayer (70/100, inferred): Mayer gives the documentary a positive assessment, arguing that its visual approach makes digital surveillance newly legible. She especially praises its seamless animation and graphics, while noting that its human drama has limits. [Read](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/disconnect-my-skin-great-hack-visualises-surveillance-capitalism) - **The Hollywood Reporter**, Daniel Fienberg (70/100, inferred): Fienberg finds the documentary persuasive and frequently gripping, though occasionally redundant and conflicted. He praises its character study of David Carroll and Brittany Kaiser while warning that its concerns about data collection also implicate Netflix. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/great-hack-review-1179623/) - **The New York Times** (64/100, inferred): The article text was inaccessible, so its verdict cannot be determined. I cannot reliably identify what the critic singled out for praise or complaint. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/23/movies/the-great-hack-review.html) - **The AV Club**, Mike D'Angelo (C+): The critic finds the documentary an un-cinematic and ultimately frustrating primer on the Cambridge Analytica scandal. He singles out whistleblower Brittany Kaiser’s conflicted presence as its most compelling element. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/the-great-hack-is-an-un-cinematic-primer-on-the-faceboo-1836630762) - **Slant Magazine**, Pat Brown (1.5/4): The critic finds the documentary meandering and elusive, arguing that its focus on Brittany Kaiser undermines its treatment of the scandal. They fault its failure to explain Cambridge Analytica’s methods in detail, while singling out the filmmakers’ apparent effort to rehabilitate Kaiser as the film’s most revealing subject. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/the-great-hack-review/) - **Variety**, Owen Gleiberman (30/100, inferred): Gleiberman finds the documentary intelligent but infuriating, arguing that it oversimplifies the causes of Trump’s victory and treats regulation as the answer. He praises its energetic, skillful explanation of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, while faulting its cloying fight-the-power framing. [Read](https://variety.com/2019/film/reviews/the-great-hack-review-cambridge-analytica-1203277059/) - **The Wrap** (80/100, inferred): The critic calls the documentary an essential, eye-opening explainer, despite occasional difficulty holding together its multifaceted narrative. They praise its effective visual metaphor for the personal data traces people leave behind. [Read](https://www.thewrap.com/the-great-hack-film-review-facebook-cambridge-analytica-netflix/) ## Details - **Director:** Karim Amer, Jehane Noujaim - **Director:** Karim Amer, Jehane Noujaim - **Writer:** Erin Barnett, Karim Amer, Pedro Kos - **Cinematography:** Basil Childers, Ian Moubayed - **Editor:** Erin Barnett, Carlos Rojas Felice - **Music:** Gil Talmi - **Producer:** Karim Amer, Judy Korin, Geralyn Dreyfous - **Cast:** Brittany Kaiser as Self - Former Dir. of Business Development, Cambridge Analytica; David Carroll as Self - Associate Professor Parsons School of Design; Paul-Olivier Dehaye as Self - Founder @PersonalDataIO; Ravi Naik as Self - Data Rights Solicitor; Julian Wheatland as Self - Former COO/CFO Cambridge Analytica/SCL; Carole Cadwalladr as Self - Investigative Journalist for The Guardian; Christopher Wiley as Self - Former Cambridge Analytica Employee and Whistleblower; Paul Hilder as Self - Writer/Political Technologist - **Runtime:** 1h 54m - **First release (the US):** 26 January 2019 - **Genres:** Documentary - **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iX8GxLP1FHo ## Where to watch in Thailand - Netflix: streaming *Checked 2026-10-03.* Also available in: AE, AR, AT, AU, AZ, BE, BG, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, CZ, DE, DK, EC, EE, ES, FI, FR, GB, GR, HK, HR, HU, ID, IE, IL, IN, IS, IT, JP, KR, LT, MX, MY, NL, NO, NZ, PA, PE, PH, PL, PT, RO, RS, SE, SG, SI, SK, TH, TR, UA, US, VN, ZA. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## If you liked this - *Citizenfour* (2014), Fi1m 83: A more patient documentary about surveillance, with sharper attention to individual responsibility. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/citizenfour.md) - *The Conversation* (1974), Fi1m 92: Surveillance becomes a private moral crisis, observed with patience and mounting unease. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-conversation.md) - *Collective* (2019), Fi1m 88: An investigation that lets careful reporting expose the workings of institutional corruption. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/collective.md) - *The Lives of Others* (2006), Fi1m 84: For the human consequences of surveillance, examined through the people doing the watching. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-lives-of-others.md) - *A Face in the Crowd* (1957): An earlier warning about mass persuasion and the dangers of trusting a performer. --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/the-great-hack