THE INSIDER by Michael Mann
December 6th, 2004 by Andre Soares
The Insider (1999) 
Director: Michael Mann. Screenplay: Eric Roth and Michael Mann, from Marie Brenner’s Vanity Fair article “The Man Who Knew Too Much.” Cast: Al Pacino, Russell Crowe, Christopher Plummer, Diane Venora, Philip Baker Hall, Lindsay Crouse
SMOKE GETS IN YOUR LUNGS
"It’s old news. . . . We’ll be ok," says Don Hewitt (Philip Baker Hall), the creator of the CBS newsmagazine 60 Minutes. "These things have a half-life of 15 minutes."
"No, that’s fame," replies 60 Minutes anchor Mike Wallace (Christopher Plummer). "Fame has a 15-minute half-life. Infamy lasts a little longer."
The infamous "things" referred to by Hewitt and Wallace are the scandals that erupted in early 1996, when it was revealed that CBS News had refused to air an interview with a tobacco company whistleblower because the network feared the (financial) consequences.
Based on Marie Brenner’s Vanity Fair article about the events that led up to that embarrassing incident, the docudrama The Insider tells the story of scientist Jeffrey Wigand (Russell Crowe), who turns against his former employer, tobacco giant Brown & Williamson, because the company has knowingly begun using potential carcinogens in its cigarettes. Enter 60 Minutes producer Lowell Bergman, a newshound who knows a good story when he smells one. Together, Wigand and Bergman must fight not only the tobacco industry, but also state and U.S. government agents, and CBS’s top executives, who fear that the anti-tobacco segment may lead to a multi-billion-dollar lawsuit.
The tale itself is both gripping and socially relevant, and if The Insider were peppered with lines and situations at least half as intelligent as the aforementioned dialogue exchange, this docudrama-cum-thriller would stand on a par with great cinematic exposés such as Costa-Gavras’s Z and Robert Redford’s Quiz Show. Unfortunately, director-cowriter Michael Mann and cowriter Eric Roth (one of the Forrest Gump culprits) have created a film that tilts heavily toward simplistic melodrama, an approach that makes this attack on lies and deception seem anachronistically manipulative.
‘Bergman, for instance, is portrayed as a paragon of journalistic integrity; Wigand is the quirky family man dedicated to the truth; and most everybody else is selfish, stupid, cowardly, or just plain evil. Thus, reality is downsized to fit your average by-the-book movie plot, with heroes making grandiose speeches and villains cowering in silence. (Even a pivotal Mississippi courtroom scene works as realistically as similar sequences in daytime soaps.)
Surprisingly, The Insider also disappoints as a thriller. The action and suspense sequences are so exaggerated — and ineffectual — that it is hard to believe that this film was directed by the same man who orchestrated the exhilarating bank robbery in Heat.
Not helping matters are the performances of the two leads. Plastered with ageing makeup, Russell Crowe plays Jeffrey Wigand as if he were auditioning for his role in A Beautiful Mind. Crowe’s Wigand stutters, displays a permanent frown, and is averse to looking people in the eye.
Perhaps trying to compensate for Crowe’s mannered "underplaying," Al Pacino goes to the other extreme. As a result, his overly heroic Lowell Bergman comes across as more than a little overbearing — less because of the character’s traits than because of the actor’s histrionics.
All the while, Christopher Plummer hams it up as Mike Wallace. All ego and little sense, this Wallace has enough chutzpah to confront Islamic terrorists but lacks the courage to stand up to his bosses — he is too afraid to end his days "wandering in the wilderness of National Public Radio."
Michael Mann has proven himself a superior action-suspense director, but his emphasis on melodrama gets the best of him in The Insider. Even so, this flawed docudrama is worth watching on the strength of the real-life story on which it is based. Additionally, the film’s lessons are quite valuable: Smoking is bad for you; corporate greed is bad for freedom of speech.
A no less pertinent — albeit unintentional — lesson The Insider espouses is that simplistic storytelling is bad for movies. Much can be learned from that.
Synopsis:
After being fired by the tobacco corporation Brown & Williamson, scientist Jeffrey Wigand (Russell Crowe) comes into contact with Lowell Bergman (Al Pacino), a producer for the CBS news show 60 Minutes. After some initial reluctance, Wigand tells Bergman that Brown & Williamson and other tobacco companies have known for years that nicotine is highly addictive — and that, in fact, they were trying to make the substance even more addictive. Realizing that Wigand’s story will create a furor, Bergman arranges for the scientist to be interviewed by 60 Minutes newsstar Mike Wallace (Christopher Plummer). There is only one glitch. A confidentiality agreement forbids Wigand from discussing anything about his time at Brown & Williamson, and the corporation has already threatened to ruin its former employee if he talks to the press.
Despite the danger, Wigand is determined to talk. Wallace interviews him, but CBS refuses to air the segment once Brown & Williamson threatens the network with a multi-billion dollar lawsuit. Westinghouse is in the process of buying CBS, and its top executives want the sale to proceed smoothly. As a result, a major rift emerges in the CBS newsroom, with Bergman lecturing the others on their cowardice. In the meantime, Wigand finds himself the subject of lawsuits and a smear campaign. Apparently, the truth will never reach the American public. Or will it?
Notes:
The TV version of The Insider was disowned by Michael Mann. It was credited to Alan Smithee. Mann also disavowed the TV showing of his cop thriller Heat (1995).
In The Insider, Lowell Bergman quits CBS shortly after the February 1996 showing of the Wigand interview on 60 Minutes. In reality, Bergman didn’t quit his post until April 1999, when his contract expired.
Dr. Jeffrey Wigand requested that the filmmakers change the names of his daughters, and that The Insider should have absolutely no scenes showing characters smoking. However, there are a couple of moments when minor characters do take a puff.
"The film is getting what it deserves — a decent burial." Newscaster Mike Wallace, in regard to The Insider’s dismal box-office returns. As quoted in the New York Daily News.
"When a journalist who professes to be dedicated to the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth conspires with a screenwriter to concoct a movie about himself that portrays him, by name, saying things he never said and doing things he never did, that is not a journalist I would allow within a hundred miles of a newsroom." 60 Minutes producer Don Hewitt at a June 2000 press conference in New York.
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