A phenomenal film of awesome social importance.

Rating: Null/10 (25 June 2000)

Is it really possible to say that an seven-time Oscar-nominated film is under-rated? I think, with Michael Mann's "The Insider," it is very possible. This is more than a good movie, it's a masterpiece. In fact, I would say that it is the second-best film of 1999. In my opinion, this is a superior film to "American Beauty."
This film has many good things about it, but there are two that really jumped out at me. The first is a phenomenal, passionate performance by Russell Crowe. He becomes Wigand, and it is truly not a glorious role. But it is an honest role, and Crowe plays it honestly. Wigand is a down-to-earth man, like you or me, but he knows something, and he feels that other people need to know this as well. This is not intelligence that is driving him, exactly, it is ethics. I am not saying that Wigand is not intelligent, rather, that anyone who has ever felt the tug of ethics can relate to what he's feeling. Crowe is one of the boldest actors that we have, and this role is truly a risky one.
The second thing that really needs to be praised is the brilliant cinematography of Dante Spinotti. Great camera work is hard to come by. When a cinematographer takes too many risks, the viewer is disoriented. When not enough risks are taken, the film is boring. Spinotti gives this film a bizarre visual image that never disorienting, but, somehow (and i can't explain how), helps us see the characters in a very human perspective. That's why I chose to use the work "brilliant," because true brilliance is difficult to explain.
Like any film, this one is not perfect. The direction is, at times, too heavy-handed, and we become a little bit aware of the film's length towards the middle (this is perhaps the fault of the writers), but no film of recent years sees a social problem so clearly and deals with it so honestly.
**** out of ****.