Cornered in a tiny building for five years, Julian Assange remains undeterred even as the legal action he faces threatens to undermine the organization he leads and fracture the movement he inspired. But after years of unparalleled access, the director becomes wary of her subject’s motives.

Citizenfour found a hero in Edward Snowden—but Laura Poitras’s next documentary is much more ambivalent toward its subject. Power is never far from accusations of self-interest and abuse in Risk, which follows Julian Assange from 2011 to 2016 and sees him become an increasingly knotty character.