Let's discuss The Insider

[carl]

The Insider(15) 'The Insider' is based on the true story of a man who fought back against the big tobacco companies. Now since I am not exactly familiar with the events in question I can not vouch for how accurate the films portrayal of these events is. With this in mind then what I am about to tell you are the basics of the story as it is told in the film, however bare in mind that the general consensus among critics is that this films is one of the most truthful films ever, and since the real Geoffrey Wigand was on hand to supervise the production then it's safe to say that it has not been treated to the usual Hollywood makeover.

The film stars Russel Crowe as a scientist name Geoffrey Wigand, who is fired from his position at a big tobacco company because he refuses to work with people who care more about money than peoples lives. He leaves his position without causing a scene and returns home safe in the knowledge that the company will still provide his family with his contracted benefits. All he needs to do then is find another job, and the chance to make some money comes along as a producer for 60 minutes calls him asking for help. The producer named Lowelll Bergman wants him to explain some documents for him about cigarettes and fire safety. At first Wigand refuses because he has signed a confidentiality agreement with the company he worked for. Eventually though he realizes that he really does need the money and so agree's to help with these documents as they are not in breach of his contract. He refuses to divulge any other information, but then his previous employers call him back to the offices insisting that he sign another broader agreement to protect themselves. Wigand refuses and walks out of there offices still having no intentions of going against his agreement. He discusses the things he knows with Bergman without going into details that he shouldn't. Bergman tells him that he needs to decide for himself whether or not he wants to go against this agreement on film. Then the tobaccos company start to put on some pressure, He hears people outside his home and his family start to receive death threats so he decides enough is enough and he is going to get them back by appearing on film, but first they have to find a way to make the film legal.

Like I said I can not confirm how accurate the events in the film are, but what I can tell you is that for the first time in my life I believe what the critics say on the matter. After all every time a true story is released there are people who claim it's accurate and the directors always say how the people involved are happy with the results. Unfortunately the films are usually as clechaed as any other Hollywood movie, and suffer from Hollywoods obsession on making the films in there own style. With this film though, I really believed that this was the way that the events could have happened in real life. There was absolutely none of Hollywoods clechaes in the film, and the characters were not all 2 dimensional. Wingard was not a perfect man, he was not fighting for the people. He was a man who was fighting for his family, and would have been happy to leave these events alone, if the company had left him alone.

The characters who your supposed to dislike are also portrayed in a shade of grey, although obviously the tobacco companies have been given no redeeming features, but the people who fold under the pressure are given a surprising amount of sympathy. Even though you are supposed to root for Wigand you still find yourself feeling sympathy for them, and understanding why they folded. It's things like these that have made 'The Insider' the most believable true story since the similarly themed 'All The Presidents Men'.

'The Insider' though is a much better film than 'All The Presidents Men' because as good as that film was, I still found that in a few places the film did begin to drag. 'The Insider' though is one of the few films that has been able to grip me for 3 hours straight without dragging once. While the story definitely helps in this regard the main reason that this film is so good ultimately comes down to the actors.

Again this film does something that not many films can do, in that it has a fantastic actor in every role. Even the very small characters are played fantastically, and while some films like 'All The Presidents Men' do still have fantastic actors, with good actors for the small roles, here they are all fantastic. One of the main roles is played by Al Pacino who has already had a string of terriffic roles, and here gives one of his best. Though I'm not going to mention any more of his performance than that simply because I do not want to draw away from Russel Crowe's performance. This is the film that brought him to the critics eye, and while real commercial success wouldn't happen until his next film 'Gladiator' was released it's not hard to see what the critics liked about him. He blew me away with his performance as while I already respected him for his acting talent in films such as 'L.A Confidential', here he gives what is quite possibly the best performance by anyone, anywhere, ever!

Thankfully the actors have also been complemented by some fantastic camera work, as the angles here help the film to feel more realistic. I'm not talking Blair Witch style hand held camera's as they're not. The film has not been given a grainy documentary look, that seems essential to realism. What they have done though is to refuse the flattering Hollywood style camera angles. The actors are never center screen but they are off to the side, and sometimes there faces disappear entirely. It's this camera system that helps the films believability, and thus makes the films tension. I'd love to add other things to this review but I honestly can't think of any. The film had me so gripped in it's story that it was very difficult to analyze anything else. That's how good the film is.

*****

[trailergod]

yes, IMO the best movie Michael Mann ever made. I enjoyed this movie very much, one of the best Political Thrillers i have seen. Some movies are simply boring but this, ohh boy it kept me excited the whole time. The tension in the story and among the characters simply amazed me. The great camera work work in this movie should also be noted.

Now about the subject matter, which to me actually deals more about the freedom and independece of the press or media. All i can say is that it all boils down to BUSINESS and money. The biggest and deepest pocket always gets the deal

[Gaumont]

dont really got much to add. Good movie. Very nice acting. Seen it a bunch of times.