Product: The Insider [VHS] (1999)
Rating: 5.0
A superb film
It is rare for a film to acheive the quality of this one. It is rarer still for a film of this quality to actually mean something. Russell Crowe's performance is nothing short of mesmerizing. He completely sumberges himself in his character giving the impression that he is not acting at all. This is the mark of a great actor. Christopher Plummer is Mike Wallace, to put it bluntly, and Al Pacino's performance is on a par with the best in his career. Mann keeps the movie going with a leisurly but suspensful pace. It never loses it's sense of urgency.We also learn how corporate America has come to dominate this country economically and socially, even to the extent that it can control the news content (having worked in television news, I can confirm the realism of those scenes). This movie deserves whatever awards it gets. It was the best film of 1999 without question, hesitation or doubt.