Product: The Insider [VHS] (1999)
Rating: 5.0
One of the Great Political Thrillers
Director Michael Mann ("The Last of the Mohicans" and "Heat") has created a sophisticated, multi-layered, social thriller which is one the most well acted and well written films in recent memory. Russell Crowe (from "L.A. Confidential") plays Dr. Jeffrey Wigand, a chemist for a major tobacco company, who is fired and then is mysteriously threatened and intimidated against revealing inside information which he possess about the use of chemical enhancements for nicotine. Crowe deftly portrays a man who is both forceful, intelligent, and emotionally explosive while at the same time quirky, nave, and fearful. Crowe gives a thoroughly convincing performance as a man who is squeezed, in vice-like fashion, between preserving his family and his compulsion to tell the truth.Al Pacino, in one of the best performances of his career, plays "60 Minutes" producer Lowell Bergman who coaxes Wigand to reveal what he knows, despite Wigand's conflicted feelings about violating a corporate confidentiality agreement. In his recent roles ("Heat," The Devil's Advocate," and "Scent of a Woman") Pacino has tended to push his characters over the top. Here he plays Bergman with just the right balance of subtlety, restraint and passion.Christopher Plummer (the father in "The Sound of Music"!) is equally superb as "60 Minutes" reporter Mike Wallace. Plummer's portrayal is just the right mix of ego, wit, and self-assurance.Only in the very capable hands of Director Michael Mann could such a movie-which consists primarily of the characters talking to each other-be suspenseful, dramatic, and fresh. Mann's use of extreme close-ups, deft editing, out-of-focus shots and hand-held cameras make for a riveting movie experience.But beyond the technical brilliance of the film, Mann (who co-wrote it) weaves into the plot and dialog larger moral and social questions such as the extent to which reporters should manipulate sources and their own colleagues to "get the story" and how much should be sacrificed in the search for truth. These larger issues do not seemed forced or preachy but, rather, are natural extensions of the story and dialog.While this film was shut out at the recent Academy Awards (despite 7 nominations) and did lackluster box office, it is a great movie that squarely places Michael Mann in the upper echelon of Hollywood directors. It is a movie that is clearly the equal of "All the President's Men" to which it is often, and favorably, compared. [Note: this movie has received an "R" rating entirely for its use of the F-word (about 15 times). There is no sex or violence.]