The Man Inside (1990)

Gunter Wallraff is a journalist seeking to expose the unethical journalism practiced by The Standard, a very popular and powerful German newspaper. He goes undercover, using forged identity... See full summary »

Director:

Bobby Roth

Writers:

Bobby Roth, Günter Wallraff (eyewitness account)

Stars:

Jürgen Prochnow, Peter Coyote, Nathalie Baye

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jürgen Prochnow	...	Gunter Wallraff (as Jurgen Prochnov)
Peter Coyote	...	Henry Tobel
Nathalie Baye	...	Christine
Dieter Laser	...	Leonard Schroeter
Monique van de Ven	...	Tina Wallraff (as Monique Van De Ven)
Philip Anglim	...	Rolf Gruel
Henry G. Sanders	...	Evans (as Henry Sanders)
James Laurenson	...	Mueller
Sylvie Granotier	...	Kathy Heller
Hippolyte Girardot	...	Rudolph Schick
Joe Sheridan	...	Karl (as Joseph Sheridan)
Philippe Leroy	...	Borges (as Philippe Leroy Beaulieu)
Christine Murillo	...	Angela
Barbara Williams	...	Judie Brandt
Florence Pernel	...	Angel

Storyline

Gunter Wallraff is a journalist seeking to expose the unethical journalism practiced by The Standard, a very popular and powerful German newspaper. He goes undercover, using forged identity papers and at great personal risk, to join their staff. Once there, he sees how they don't just report the news, but manufacture it to suit the personal political agenda of the paper's leaders.

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Plot Keywords:

papers | german | newspaper | undercover | agenda | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

France USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

26 October 1990 (USA)

Also Known As:

L'affaire Walraff

Filming Locations:

Cologne, North Rhine - Westphalia, Germany

Company Credits

Production Co:

Canal+, Compagnie du Production Internationale, F.P.C. Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

93 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

The newspaper featured in this film is in reality the German 'Bild-Zeitung'. The newspapers' founder Axel Springer is played by Manfred Andrae with his character named "Hermes Brauner".

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Goofs

Schultz gets into a BMW 7 series which didn't go in production until the late-'80s.

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Crazy Credits

Before the credits there is the following: 'LEAD STORY', Wallraff's expose of 'The Daily Standard', has become a best seller in Germany and throughout Western Europe. The Standard's readership dropped off 17% after the book's release, and the paper has been plagued by student demonstrations and lawsuits from its victims. However, nine million Germans still read it daily. In a subsequent ruling, the court prohibited Wallraff from mentioning any link between 'The Standard' and German State Security. The German League of Industrialists implemented a security program at all its major facilities to guard against future infiltration. Gunter Wallraff is currently working on a new project...somewhere in Germany.

User Reviews

Neat intellectual thriller of its time

Based on a true story, this is a small, issue-based film, not earth-shattering, but intriguing in its depiction of a supposedly free media in 1980s West Germany. The thrills are intellectual rather than action-based--the most frightening chase is in a dream sequence, the only violent death takes place in near-darkness and is messy and brutal rather than glamorous.

As a movie, it also offers a few rare gems: an adult relationship with real warmth and sexual chemistry between 40-somethings Jurgen Prochnow and Nathalie Baye; Peter Coyote seducing Prochnow with guns and chess; and the more amusing assertion that all it takes to make Prochnow unrecognizable, even to the mother of his children, is to put in brown contact lenses. And as an added bonus, I think it's the only time we see Jurgen and Dieter Prochnow onscreen together.

One for the indie audience rather than the masses. 7