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Insider,
The (1999)
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Michael Mann and Al Pacino reunite in this beautifully crafted edge of the seat thriller about the dark dealings of the giant Tobacco companies. The tobacco industry's sheer weight of strength and the extent of their power are focussed upon and the subsequent effect they have in diluting the moral fibre which is the very essence of American society. The film questions the integrity of the media when under pressure. It's the age old story reflected in that bible of media studies, The Powers That Be where the integrity of the media can and is compromised by governments, business conglomerates, lawsuits and personal interests. The truth can be and often is altered to suit a given need and the fiercely independent school of broadcast journalism is forever walking this moral tightrope. Mann's film focuses on primarily two issues. Part of the film is a thriller in which two good men are pitted against the might of a super conglomerate, multinational tobacco firm. Russell Crowe plays the role of Jeffrey Wigand, a disgruntled employee of a firm which according to him is in the business of twisting and misrepresenting facts in order to boost its sales. Wigand, feeling threatened, is gradually coaxed by Lowell Bergman (Al Pacino), a CBS news producer into spilling the beans but a horrible quagmire of a legal mess awaits that threatens to engulf submerge everyone involved. Based very loosely on fact, the story takes the viewer through the corridors of intrigue and corporate lawsuits that make up the orbit of the big league players. Michael Mann plays the film on a couple of levels, one being the straight journalistic thriller - will the expose make it to the public as it should or will the evil conglomerate that even owns shares within the media crush the truth to safeguard their own market value. This is the crux of the movie, yet Mann takes the time to focus on some of the issues at the very foundation of the ethics of journalism. The manipulation of facts to paint a desired picture, indeed the whole "game" of what is news or rather who decides what the news is and how it is thereafter presented. David Halberstam's epic study of the networks sheds similar light in his powerhouse book The Powers That Be. The ethics of journalism and media reporting within a capitalist world where a president of an arms making company may well be the largest shareholder within a top national newspaper which has the power to influence millions of people. If a war against lowly Grenada will translate into a lucrative order from the Government for making a weapon which your company happens to specialize in then surely "your" paper might start "subconsciously" leaning towards a pro war stance? Likewise if you own shares of Phillip Morris tobacco company just for an example, and you also own shares in Time magazine. This kind of quandary and very real issue is at the heart of The Insider. Mann also turns on his unique brand of visual style with shades of purple and blue dominating as well as several scenes of slow motion and the Arabic influenced background score. Clearly Mann also adores the ocean front as it has appeared as a place of retreat, a haven in Heat as well as Manhunter and now The Insider. Mann is able to evoke stretches of cinema that are spellbinding. Visually sumptuous and dramatic settings, backed with layers of serene drifting music. It's all just gorgeously seductive and you have to pinch yourself sometimes to "get" the relevance of all the style within the matter. De Palma has also been maligned for being overly "stylish" but we are firmly behind those who regard the camera as a medium of expression rather than just a cold eye into someone else's world. Al Pacino turns in another highly professional performance, thankfully devoid of all his own notorious excesses. His is a totally believable performance and helps the film attain a high degree of credibility. Russell Crowe is also impressive, managing to do the brooding Mannesque scenes without too much problem. The soundtrack is hybrid Peter Gabriel with plenty of lost drones and scatty rhythms thrown into the mix. The film succeeds on all counts, as an entertaining thriller, as an absorbing account of an important incident, as a well acted courtroom drama and to some extent the story of a man going through an enormous personal crisis, isolation, breakdown and then redemption. A refreshingly serious and sober thriller in the age of thrillers like Enemy of the State.
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