Rich Michael Mann film but not his best

Rating: 8/10 (16 August 2001)

I consider Mann to be the second most important living director in the US. I became his fan after I watched Violent Streets (released in the US as ) way back in the Eighties at the Indian International Film Festival in New Delhi. I had then written in the newspaper I was then working for that this director is somebody to watch out for. I am glad that some 20 years later I have been proven right. I consider him next in importance only to Terrence Mallick among living US directors.
It is a shame that those associated with American Academy of Motion Pictures constantly bypass great talent on so many occasions. Overlooking the performances in the Insider and bestowing so many awards for American Beauty is crass injustice. The Insider is superior to American Beauty in several respects, acting, direction, music, photography At some stage in the Oscar history, this august body will realize that just as Orson Welles was ignored for his early work, great contributors to American cinema who are being ignored are Mann and Mallick. Both of them are consummate filmmakers: who take great care with story, screenplay, acting, editing, photography, sound and music. Mann, unlike Mallick, approaches less philosophical subjects and is therefore appreciated by a larger slice of the public.

Why do I find Insider not to be his best work? The Insider's power is essentially in the content. That it is the work of Michael Mann and cinematographer Spinotti only adds flavor to the product. Mann is a director who could make James Caan, an average actor, appear impressive in `Violent Streets'. If he could do that it is not surprising to find superb performances from Crowe and Pacino in `The Insider'. Compare this with `Heat', whose story needed the superb treatment of Mann and Spinotti to come alive. In `The Insider,' the focus is understandably on the male duo and due to the documentary nature of the subject the women are pushed into the background. In `Heat', while the male duo carry the film, the female characters are not wallflowersall three wives/lovers grab your attention. Mann had a `compleat' film in `Heat'. That does not mean `The Insider' was not a great work-it had limitations to develop due to the subject.

Another great trademark of Mann is his opening sequences full of kinetic energy injected through sight and sound. However, the opening shots of `The Insider' reminded you of a Costa Gavras/Gillo Pontecorvo type of Sixties cinema, much less impressive than the powerful opening sequences of `Violent Streets' and `The Last of the Mohicans.' Mann, Mallick, and Kubrick are directors who use sound and music with great felicity. In `The Insider' the scene of Wygand refusing to be disturbed in the hotel room is an example of this talent in Mann, with beautiful music, camerawork and special effects.
Has Mann matured over the years? Definitely. Mann directing `The Insider' is more reflective and offers the viewer options to evaluate Wygand and other characters, which `Heat' did not. You begin to like Wygand as he makes the big decision as he stares out at the waterscape. You begin to doubt, as he cannot defend aspect s of his past. You begin to wonder if Wygand is using circumstances to be hero or if he is a true hero as he hits the golf balls in apparent solitude. In `Heat' there was no such ambiguity. His work is much better in `The Insider' than in `Violent Streets'. Yet `Heat' is in my opinion a more demanding and creative work compared to `The Insider'.