A movie about an insider story, a genre that often involves protagonists who find themselves in a world where they must change their own understanding of that world’s moral underpinnings, can be both fascinating and challenging. Few filmmakers, however, can turn such a dusty scenario into chest-convulsively taut drama.
That’s what Michael Mann has done in his 1999 film, The Insider. It depicts the real-life events surrounding a whistleblower’s struggle to tell his side of the story. Russell Crowe is brilliant as tobacco scientist Jeffrey Wigand, a man who becomes the subject of both an onslaught of unethical tactics from Big Tobacco and the media’s determination to hear him out and report his story. And director Mann and screenwriter Eric Roth manage to draw a fine cast, including Christopher Plummer and Gina Gershon, who both bring to the role the full flavor of the man Mike Wallace.
The film’s true-to-life feel lent it an authenticity that helped it make an impact when it came out. It’s a powerful example of the way in which truth can be distorted and manipulated by corporations and how the media is still vulnerable to their control.
And it’s a fine example of the power that great acting can have in a movie such as this. Mann has cast his leads so well that it seems impossible to imagine anyone else in their roles — much like the way Daniel Day Lewis made you believe he was Nathaniel Poe in The Last of the Mohicans and Al Pacino convinced you he was a disciplined and professional expert thief in Heat.
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