Product: The Insider [VHS] (1999)
Rating: 5.0
A superb film, but not one designed for non-US audiences
A review of THE INSIDER by one of my Favorite People living in one of the Baltic states has recently appeared, and which gave the film only 2 stars - a significant shortfall from what I believe the picture was worth, i.e. 5 stars.Granted, the film didn't win Best Picture at the Oscars. But, there can only be one Best Picture winner, and that petty detail in the rules shouldn't detract from the excellence of the runner-ups in any particular year. I do believe, however, that THE INSIDER is not likely to engage non-US audiences for two reasons. First of all, "60 Minutes" is a revered American television icon, not British, Brazilian, Japanese, Egyptian, Indian, Latvian, or whatever. (It's one of the rare network programs worth watching anymore. The rest is just garbage.) The scandal that ensued (and which THE INSIDER portrays), when this much respected investigative news show caved to Big Tobacco and suppressed a story unfavorable to the latter, was chiefly an American reaction. Secondly, as near as I can discern, the disgust felt for the hypocrisy of Big Tobacco is, again, basically an American phenomenon. The majority of the rest of the world doesn't care, and continues to smoke like chimneys!The performances of both Al Pacino and Russell Crowe were both first class. That of the latter was the most pleasantly surprising since he's a relative newcomer to the silver screen. And what can one say about Pacino? He gets better with age, much like Sean Connery, Bruce Willis, Michael Douglas, and Harrison Ford. And what's wrong with that?! They all demonstrate that quality known in life as "maturity". The thought of a Ben Affleck, Matt Damon or Brad Pitt playing Pacino's role, as good as these rising young stars are, is positively ludicrous.More to the cinematic point in closing, how many lesser films regarded as absolute swill by US audiences have scored big at the overseas box offices? Hmmm? There's no accounting for taste.