It’s strange to think The Insider was released just shy of ten years ago and was based on a 12-year-old “Vanity Fair” article and yet the tobacco industry seems just as strong as it has always been. Sure, smoking in bars and other public situations has been barred in a lot of places, but that hasn’t stopped people from firing up a death stick. The absence of Joe Camel billboards doesn’t stop me from seeing cigarettes everywhere. As The Insider gives us a mildly exaggerated look at just how far the tobacco industry will actually go to keep a lid on their secrets and to realize it is still legal for them to operate and sell their cancer is astounding.
Billed heavily on Al Pacino’s shoulders, The Insider is probably best remembered as Russell Crowe’s break out role (this or L.A. Confidential). It was the first time he was nominated for an Oscar and to say the chemistry between Crowe and Pacino in this film was anything less than remarkable would be an understatement. Pacino is fantastic as “60 Minutes” go getter producer Lowell Bergman as he stumbles on some sensitive tobacco related studies out of Brown & Williamson laboratories. When he calls on Jeffrey Wigand (Crowe) to help put the documents in layman’s terms he realizes he is sitting on a journalistic goldmine. Wigand was recently fired from Brown & Williamson and has plenty of information of his own to share, but it will need some massaging before it comes out. But when it does it will certainly turn the tobacco industry on its ear.
Ultimately Bergman gets Wigand to agree to an interview with Mike Wallace, but in the process of trying to get the piece aired the suits at CBS News initially squash it all while Wigand is getting death threats and court subpoenas. His wife has also taken their kid and left. Much of the controversy surrounding the events of The Insider have been brought to question including the death threats but it remains an effective fictionalization of a true story considering the key components are what’s most important. We still have approximately 438,000 people dying each year from cigarette smoking related illnesses and considering they are dying from the a legally sold cancer causing product is where this story keeps its timeliness.
As it stands right now, The Insider is the last time Pacino was Pacino. The role was relatively vanilla for the likes of Pacino when it comes to dialogue, but so much of what director Michael Mann asked of his actors in this film relied on emoting through their eyes. Several close-up shots of each character’s eyeballs requires so much more from an actor than just showing worry in body movement or stammering through dialogue and Pacino nailed it. Crowe, on the other hand, was dealing with a completely different beast of a character and for both of the characters portrayed in this film to be in the same room at the same time is a combustible combination.
Despite his situation, Jeffrey Wigand shows a lot of restraint until push really comes to shove. Wigand shows his concern through fidgety mannerisms and the posture of an introvert, and although he speaks with confidence you still get that sense. However, there remains a swagger and a sense of self-awareness that makes the character far more complex than what is assumed after first impression. In reality, and in the film as well, there is question as to whether or not Wigand put the bullet in his own mailbox, which would tend to show he was balancing on instability, but in terms of the character as portrayed by Crowe he avoids going over the temperamental edge until he feels he has been abandoned by those he trusted and those he thought were in the fight with him, and it is where this movie finds its emotional hook.
Christopher Plummer is an absolute onscreen force as Mike Wallace. He carries off the character with such power and presence. He walks into a room knowing all eyes are on him, recognizing those he must and not with too much pomp, but just the right amount that leads you to believe he knows who he is and how he is perceived. Several other actors give great performances in relatively smaller roles including Gina Gershon as a corporate lawyer and certainly Michael Gambon as Brown & Williamson president Thomas Sandefur.
However, the one key thing I took away from this film after seeing it for the first time in almost ten years was just how much all of Michael Mann’s films seem to exist in the same world and no matter what story he is telling he can most often make it compelling. Mann was able to take a story of investigative journalism involving plenty of fact-finding and talky scenes with The Insider, and give it an elevated sense of intrigue and thrills. The intelligent script from Eric Roth (Forrest Gump and The Good Shepherd) didn’t hurt things, but it’s Mann’s ability to capture a moment in time with just the right lighting, shot decisions and the ability to cast all the right individuals that makes his films so unique.
As for his steady visual design, strangely enough Mann is not beholden to only one cinematographer, but if he does have a favorite I would have to assume it is Dante Spinotti who not only was the director of photography on The Insider, but also Heat, Manhunter, The Last of the Mohicans and was also DP on Mann’s upcoming American gangsters flick Public Enemies. It’s obvious the two have built a satisfying working relationship and its evidenced in their work.
I am not sure if The Insider will ever reach its full appreciation. In 2009 it is sure to see some kind of 10th anniversary home video release, which may help reintroduce the seven time Oscar nominee to audiences, but it seems that by getting snubbed in all seven categories may have been the film’s historical downfall.
