Steven Rea's picks of the week

Citizenfour Anchor Bay Blu-ray and DVD, $26.99 and $22.98 Laura Poitras' Oscar-winning documentary is literally in the room - a Hong Kong hotel room - with NSA whistle-blower Edward Snowden as he proceeds to leak thousands of classified documents about government surveillance and intelligence programs to the media. The movie plays like a real-life spy thriller; the Hollywood version, with Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Snowden (Oliver Stone directing), opens Christmas Day.

Far from the Madding Crowd, Twentieth Century Fox Blu-ray and DVD, $39.99 and $29.98 Carey Mulligan is Bathsheba Everdene, Thomas Hardy's independent-minded heroine, trapped in a Victorian society where women are supposed to defer to men. Three of said creatures - a handsome sheep farmer (Matthias Schoenaerts), a landowning neighbor (Michael Sheen), a dashing, devilish soldier (Tom Sturridge) - go a-courtin'. Director Thomas Vinterberg plays Hardy's dark Wessex tale surprisingly light, but Mulligan shines, the scenery shimmers, and the story, full of fateful turns, captivates. If you've never seen the John Schlesinger-directed version from 1967 with Julie Christie as Bathsheba, do so. Compare and contrast, as they say.

How to Change the World Fathom Events, United Artists Riverview and Cinemark 16, Somerdale, N.J., Wednesday 7:30 p.m. A special "live" screening of the Sundance festival documentary about the 1971 atomic bomb testing protests led by eco-hero Robert Hunter in the waters off the Alaskan coast. A hallmark event in the annals of the environmental movement, recorded on reels and reels of 16 mm film by the Greenpeace activists themselves. A live Q&A from the London Premiere follows. Tickets: www.fathomevents.com/event/how-to-change-the-world