Deep Web

Filmmaker Alex Winter's documentary tells the story of Ross Ulbricht, who was arrested in 2013 and charged with being a drug kingpin and anonymous mastermind behind the secretive online site Silk Road. The tale of Ulbricht and Silk Road is woven into a look at the larger phenomenon of the so-called “dark net,” a vast section of the Internet where websites and communication are all but untraceable. Anchored by the investigative reporting of Wired magazine journalist Andy Greenberg, Deep Web delivers a highly detailed account of the emergence of Silk Road, which not only brazenly serves as an Amazon-like marketplace for drugs, but is also a flashpoint for anarchist, extreme libertarian, anti-government views, mainly arguing that the decades-long War on Drugs is driven solely by entrenched bureaucracies and corporate profits, while homeland security and federal authorities are running amok as they obtain private data without warrants. Winter catches a viewer up pretty quickly on the broad outline of the situation, and then tightens his focus on the apprehension and trial of Ulbricht, a seemingly harmless brainiac who briefly ran an online bookselling venture and then—depending on whom you ask—was either the guiding force (known as the Dread Pirate Roberts, from the character in William Goldman's The Princess Bride) behind Silk Road (and may have been involved in murder-for-hire activities), or part of a collective, or a minor player. While Ulbricht's ultimate guilt or innocence matters to Deep Web's narrative (as well as to his parents, who appear here), the film is ultimately about larger issues raised by the government's handling of the case, especially dubious priorities related to drugs, security, and personal liberties. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (T. Keogh)