The Insider

Finally, now here is a movie where everybody seems to agree on the same verdict. It is a very rare occasion that most of the major critics, the Academy and myself all agree on the judgment of the quality of a motion picture. This only goes to say that this film really has to be good. It also goes to show that the best movies are almost always based on true stories. Truth always trumps fiction.

This movie was very well directed and well filmed, but above all it was well acted. Both Crowe and Pacino deliver memorable, believable performances, creating characters for which we can feel for, with whom we can identify. I agree on most of the Oscar Nominations, but I also feel that maybe an Oscar was warranted for best screenplay which is probably the best part of this motion picture.

Thumbs up!

Russell Crowe at his best as a Kentucky tobacco executive in Eric Roth and Michael Mann's masterpiece, "The Insider," is one of the most underrated American films ever. Not only is it important historically for its political implications - not about tobacco, but about conflicts of commercial interest that control freedom of speech along the airwaves in the U.S.- it is a great story and it is true. Disney had no idea how to market "The Insider" and essentially sold it as tobacco movie and it is so much more. Pacino gives a grand A plus performance as a Long Island Jewish producer and halfway through the movie I forgot he was Al Pacino. Even better Christopher Plummer masterfully captures the full essence of Mike Wallace. Gina Gershon could turn lust from a stone as always. Michael Mann seems to always pull strong performances from his actors, and Eric Roth who brilliantly adapted "Forrest Gump" did the same here with Mann. Though long, "The Insider" is never boring and a movie all Americans should see twice to make sure they fully comprehend regardless of how you feel about the tobacco debate.

From scene one, this film delivers a long slow burn as the tale of power and corruption unfolds. There is little action, but the film is steeped in an atmosphere of tension and high drama. The direction by Michael Mann is masterful, an object lesson in how to frame shots and let silence, as well as words - and music - work for the story. Al Pacino is once more the great actor of early films such as 'Scarecrow', instead of the theatrical performer of recent films. Russell Crowe shows his solid 'ordinary guy'character as more tortured through losing his family than any of the macho scenes he portrayed in 'Gladiator.' A superb film.

I'll make this simple for you with short attention spans: Al Pacino's best performance of the 90s. Russell Crowe's best work on par with LA Confidential (if not better) and a gripping shot by Christopher Plummer as 60 Minutes anchor Mike Wallace.

For those who can handle it, read on:

Jeffrey Wigand (Russell Crowe) has been fired from his job. He has to break the news to his wife (Diane Venora, who I believe should go on to be one of the best actresses of all time) that their beautiful home, swank cars and health care plan (their oldest daughter is athsmatic) are about to go down the tubes. He's been given a severance package but that's about to fall apart as well.

Enter Lowell Bergman (Pacino), producer for CBS Television News' bastion of journalistic integrity, 60 Minutes. Bergman's doing a report on fires that were started by careless smokers and has been given a report so huge and full of technical jargon he can't make heads or tales of it. Through a friend he is put in touch with Wigand in the hopes of finding a translator. Wigand thinks Lowell is coming after him because of what he knows about his former employers, a major tobacco company.

It is at this moment that director Michael Mann institutes a trick, the likes of which hasn't been seen since All The President's Men. The two exchange a cat-and-mouse conversation via fax. Bergman finally calls Wigand's bluff by daring him to meet him the next day. He does.

What does Wigand know? Well, its all over the papers these days about how the tobacco industry lied about manipulating the leaves to make them more habit forming. We have Wigand to thank for that. But that isn't where the story ends. This is a two-fold tale; on one hand you have the self-destruction of a man who put everything on the line just so he could do the right thing. On the other, you have a television producer who so believes in the integrity of himself, the network, and his show that he is willing to risk everything he has to fight for the protection of his source. I haven't seen this much commitment outside of Woodward and Berstein's staunch protection of "Deep Throat."

The trump card of this film though comes in the form of Christopher Plummer playing one of the most visible news figures of the past 25 years, Mike Wallace. Wallace teeters on the edge of looking like a foul-mouthed, celebrity hungry, media hound who's only thought is about ratings. However, before its over, he evokes the "integrity of Edward R. Murrow," a line that gave me chills and made me pray for an Oscar Nomination.

Director Michael Mann is known chiefly for his Action/Thrillers. This 155 minute film is slow paced but gripping for ever second it is on the screen. A lot of people have complained over the past 7-8 years about Pacino's "staccato" performances, suddenly shouting at the slightest provocation. This film returns him to his prime form, a style he hasn't walked in since Dog Day Afternoon, ...And Justice For All and Serpico.

Anybody got a light?

I have been a huge Michael Mann fan for years, but I do have to admit that I approached his latest film "The Insider" with just the teensiest bit of trepidation...after all, Mann is the godfather of the thinking man's action flick, and I've even heard it said that his action sequences are so integral to his movie that they are practically another character in the film...with which I completely agree. So I was wondering how a movie with no chase sequence, no gunfights, basically no action whatsoever--well, how could that possibly qualify as an authentic Michael Mann signature film?

Yes, the action, per se, is missing, but Mann still brings his signature directorial style to life with lots of wide shots, intense close ups, and indirect focus, all bathed in cool blue light and threaded together with an inventive soundtrack (including a reprise of a former track that was used so effectively in "HEAT"; sorry, I can't recall the title offhand).

And what the movie lacks in "action", Mann more than makes up for in high-wire tension. He pulls us into the drama of an ordinary man's life by portraying the myriad humiliations, both large and small, that assault Wigand from the moment he is fired from his job as an R&D VP for a major tobacco company. The detoriation of his life, from his finances to his marriage to his belief in himself, is explored with the sort of atmospheric detail that is Mann's trademark: the play of light or lack of it; the familiar sights and sounds of everyday life, from the patterns of rain on a windshield to the rush of wind through the trees; and camera work that ranges from tight, out-of-focus shots to sweeping panoramas of razor-sharp clarity...all of this creates an environment of realism that puts you into the film. You can't just observe Wigand's struggle; you experience it with him. My movie-watching partner observed as we left the theatre that he felt exhausted from the tension, as if he'd just been through the corporate wringer himself. I knew what he meant!

But atmosphere isn't all Mann delivers. Once again, this genius director has placed an unexpected actor in the lead role of his film, with amazing results. Before Daniel Day Lewis was "Nathaniel Poe" in "The Last of The Mohicans", no one would have believed he could pull off a major hunk-o-rama role...well, guess what? He ended up defining the hero of the adventure/romance genre! In "The Insider", Mann has opted for the opposite effect, casting young, potential hunk material Russell Crowe as an older, slightly-pot-bellied father of two. Wigand doesn't look like anyone's hero, and perhaps that's actually the message of the movie: an ordinary man--a nobody, really--caught up in extraordinary circumstances. And Crowe delivers...in a major way! Personally, I can't remember an acting performance that mesmerized me to this extent...unless it was the last time I watched Crowe, in "L.A. Confidential". He evokes his character in this movie with the apparent ease of a magician doing card tricks: the illusion is complete and appears to be effortless. Even with silver, receding hair and twenty extra pounds which, we are shown, is not the result of costume padding, but Crowe's own amplified flesh, he is imminently watchable... almost hypnotically so.

There are, even as I post this, whispers and rumors about this movie being an Oscar contender. Best director, best actor, best supporting actor. Again, I can only nod my head in complete and total agreement. Russell Crowe will blow you away, and Al Pacino gives his best performance in years.

This film is quiet, intense, and ultimately, extremely moving. I literally burst into tears twice, the way you do when you've recieved bad news or seen something dreadful, so complete was my empathy for the character of Jeffrey Wigand . The anger, helplessness, and puzzled confusion at being punished for telling the truth felt all too familiar to me.

In summary, I was not at all disappointed in Mann's direction of this film. Even without the phenomenal action sequences he's known for, this film had the same visceral effect on me that I experienced when I saw Manhunter, Last of the Mohicans, and HEAT. I'm a born-again fan!