big tobacco

Rating: 10/10 (10 September 2006)

A long but good enough to keep one watching movie detailing a surprising true story about "Big" tobacco and their responsibility for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of smokers. Equally interesting is the CBS "60 Minutes" episode where they lost their nerve and pulled an interview they had taped rather than face a lawsuit. It's a classic battle between their legal office and the news people, reminding one of the later film "Good Night and Good Luck" about Edward R. Murrow, whose spirit and legacy aren't easy to live up to. Tying it together is the nice characterizations and sharp writing, making this movie, if not a thriller, than very close to it. Russel Crowe and Al Pacino are at the forefront, but Christopher Plummer is right up there, playing CBS' Mike Wallace. The movie ingeniously ties together the tobacco story, a very good drama about the power of corporate giants. You keep waiting for the violence to start, but it stays concealed under a tight, well coordinated effort to destroy the whistle-blower, the character assassination that's more effective and damaging than the use of physical violence. The deposition scene in a Mississippi office is one of the best dramatized legal showdowns in a long time. Mississippi, like so many other states, was faced with the costs of caring for all those sick smokers and was at the forefront of going after the big companies to seek reimbursement. How a movie can make a technical legal battle so interesting is a tribute to director Michael Mann and this, perhaps his best film so far. He balances the complexity of the movie, using the talent to create a forceful and constantly interesting film.