Ordinary people under extraordinary pressure.

Rating: 10/10 (4 December 2007)

Sitting in a lush New York restaurant, Liane Wigand (Diane Venora) gets up and leaves the table in a reserved fit of anger after learning that her husband, Jeffrey (Russell Crowe) is going to record a taping the next day for 60 Minutes where he plans to expose the tobacco industry and their web of lies the next day. After she storms off, Jeffrey whom admittedly has a bit of a drinking problem, quietly stands up and marches over to the bar. Remaining at the table, the show's host Mike Wallace (Christopher Plummer) gleefully stares across at his producer, Lowell Bergman (Al Pacino) and asks with a grin on his face "Who are these people?" Lowell's answer perfectly describes what Michael Mann's visceral, subtle thriller is all about. In one sentence, he summarizes the entire plot and in that shows the genius of how Michael Mann could take something so minimal and make it so extraordinary. Lowell quickly answers "Ordinary people under extraordinary pressure, Mike."
The Insider focuses primarily on Jeffrey and Lowell, two characters who start in very different places and collide to eventually make drastic changes in each other's lives and the fate of our nation as a whole and it's stand on the tobacco industry. The film opens with Lowell in Israel, blindfolded being taken to a meeting with a reported terrorist whom he convinces to conduct an interview with Mike Wallace for the show. Across the globe in Louisville, Kentucky we are introduced to Jeffrey Wigand as he's walking away from his office for the last time after being fired for what his employer called "communication problems" but he knows that it was because he was no longer comfortable with what they were doing; lying to the public in order to get them to continue to buy their products while being completely unaware of the consequences. He watched the Seven Dwarfs (the seven CEOs of Big Tobacco) lie under oath, saying that nicotine wasn't addictive, and he was no longer comfortable with it so they let him go and made him sign a confidentiality agreement not to disclose any knowledge he gained while working for Brown & Williamson. Jeffrey had every intention to go home, find a new job and honor this agreement with no exception.
As is generally the case with Mann, he quickly (but thoroughly) introduces us to the main characters without wasting half of the running time just to give us the basic background of the characters like the majority of films inevitably do. Mann has a gift for showing us one scene for each main character (in this case, the two leading men) that allows us to understand their entire personality and leaves the vast majority of screen time for the actual story to present itself instead of spending so much time on introducing the characters that the story is left to be bunched together in a flimsy package in the last half hour. After the strong introductions to the characters, we see a typical morning for Lowell Bergman. On the phone every second with his wife answering the other calls, he barely says goodbye to his two children as the eldest informs him that there's a package on the porch for him. When he finally gets around to opening this anonymous delivery and realizes that he's going to need a consultant in order to translate the documents into words he can understand. Through a network of communications, he's connected with Jeffrey Wigand who agrees to help him but refuses to do anything that would breach his confidentiality agreement.
That is, until Brown & Williamson make a grave mistake. After hearing that Jeffrey has spoken with Lowell, they bring him back in and ask him to sign another agreement that "more thoroughly defines what confidential is". After some poorly chosen words by the company's CEO Thomas Sandefur (Michael Gambon), Wigand becomes infuriated and gets the impression that the company is threatening not only his life but also the life of his family. He doesn't sign the paper, storms out of the office and immediately calls Lowell, thus embarking them on the journey that will vastly change both of their lives. Wigand goes through an emotional roller-coaster in order to do what he knows is the right thing by exposing Big Tobacco for the frauds that they are. His family is threatened and eventually leaves him, his paranoia reaches several breaking points and his life is ultimately destroyed by his decision to come forward; through all of this, he still firmly believes that it's worth it. He becomes a martyr in order to expose the lies of Big Tobacco, and Lowell guides him through this crusade. Through Lowell we are given an inside look into the new industry and we see very raised emotions that explode, Network-esquire, including one particularly stunning scene where Mike Wallace scolds "corporate lackey" Helen Caperelli (Gina Gershon) for cutting the guts out of a controversial statement he made.
Just like Network, The Insider's sensational story of corruption and the web of the media is hinged on numerous brilliant performances. Russell Crowe gives possibly the finest performance of the entire decade. His subtle portrayal of Wigand's paranoia and indecisiveness is stunning, but what's even more brilliant is the actor's ability to display all of the bottled up rage and fear that Wigand had bound up inside of him. The few scenes where these emotions explode are some of the most emotionally draining experiences I've ever witnessed on film. Though Crowe is definitely the shining point of the acting ensemble, the rest of the cast also excels (primarily Al Pacino, Christopher Plummer and Diane Venora). Mann's direction is truly ingenious, as it always is. His style is beautifully unique and smooth and he manages to create a visceral, highly engaging film unlike any I've ever seen. In the end, The Insider is an impeccable character study of "ordinary people under extraordinary pressure".