- Sep 22, 2013
- 4,956
- 250
- 85
The Insider is a provocative neo-civics real-news based thriller (in the vein of films like All the President's Men and Erin Brockovich). The film is an ambitious production by film-maker Michael Mann who has usually focused on crime-noir and adventure-intrigue films such as Thief, The Last of the Mohicans, and Collateral.
Mann surprised his fans by making this film adaptation of the real-life American tobacco-company corruption case involving a slandered and demonized corporate whistle-blower named Jeffrey Wigand and the controversy it stirred within the offices of the iconic American TV-journalism show 60 Minutes 'starring' Mike Wallace.
The Insider features an incredible cast (Al Pacino, Russell Crowe, Christopher Plummer, Diane Venora) and really meticulous photography/cinematography and film-editing but still reminds us of the 'gritty' male-values sentimentalism and rustic minimalism presentation we fans of Mann expect from him.
If Mann received 'help/guidance' in making this film, he certainly did not allow any 'complements/enhancements' to obscure his film-making style of brutal honesty and basic empirical photography/editing. However, we also see a more sweeping 'cosmopolitan' look to storytelling in The Insider. This 'combination' makes for quite an enjoyable movie-going experience (whether or not you're a big fan/scholar/student of American journalism).
Wigand must deal with the corruption in cigarette-production (accusations of intentional chemical 'spiking' to make tobacco more addictive!) as well as the general sociocultural 'complications' involved with glamour-seeking media-men and the dangerous slander it might produce (e.g., tabloids).
The rather-intriguing anthropological feeling you get when watching this film is that journalism and capitalism in America are very very...inventive(!), which is why I give The Insider a solid 4/5 stars, even if it's not as, say, 'gripping' as Alan J. Pakula's All the President's Men (the symbolic Watergate-controversy film starring Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford).
{re-interpretation dialogue}
====
WIGAND: Maybe I should be Lord Shiva (Hindu god of destruction).
WALLACE: Ha! Even Shiva would be shocked at your claims, Jeffrey.
WIGAND: Sure...I'm telling the truth.
WALLACE: I may believe you, but what we need is your account on record.
WIGAND: I fear for the social welfare of my wife and kids!
WALLACE: Sure...60 Minutes will support you.
WIGAND: I don't doubt your confidence; I worry about 'society.'
WALLACE: You worry about 'slander,' Jeffrey?
WIGAND: Who doesn't? It's all media now...
WALLACE: I understand. This isn't the Rapture.
WIGAND: It might as well be; I'm just trying to release information.
WALLACE: That's not that easy; trust me.
WIGAND: I trust you; I need lawyers from hell.
WALLACE: We know.
WIGAND: Maybe this 'case' will change corporate culture!
WALLACE: It will certainly mean ratings as well as reform...
====
Mann surprised his fans by making this film adaptation of the real-life American tobacco-company corruption case involving a slandered and demonized corporate whistle-blower named Jeffrey Wigand and the controversy it stirred within the offices of the iconic American TV-journalism show 60 Minutes 'starring' Mike Wallace.
The Insider features an incredible cast (Al Pacino, Russell Crowe, Christopher Plummer, Diane Venora) and really meticulous photography/cinematography and film-editing but still reminds us of the 'gritty' male-values sentimentalism and rustic minimalism presentation we fans of Mann expect from him.
If Mann received 'help/guidance' in making this film, he certainly did not allow any 'complements/enhancements' to obscure his film-making style of brutal honesty and basic empirical photography/editing. However, we also see a more sweeping 'cosmopolitan' look to storytelling in The Insider. This 'combination' makes for quite an enjoyable movie-going experience (whether or not you're a big fan/scholar/student of American journalism).
Wigand must deal with the corruption in cigarette-production (accusations of intentional chemical 'spiking' to make tobacco more addictive!) as well as the general sociocultural 'complications' involved with glamour-seeking media-men and the dangerous slander it might produce (e.g., tabloids).
The rather-intriguing anthropological feeling you get when watching this film is that journalism and capitalism in America are very very...inventive(!), which is why I give The Insider a solid 4/5 stars, even if it's not as, say, 'gripping' as Alan J. Pakula's All the President's Men (the symbolic Watergate-controversy film starring Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford).
{re-interpretation dialogue}
====
WIGAND: Maybe I should be Lord Shiva (Hindu god of destruction).
WALLACE: Ha! Even Shiva would be shocked at your claims, Jeffrey.
WIGAND: Sure...I'm telling the truth.
WALLACE: I may believe you, but what we need is your account on record.
WIGAND: I fear for the social welfare of my wife and kids!
WALLACE: Sure...60 Minutes will support you.
WIGAND: I don't doubt your confidence; I worry about 'society.'
WALLACE: You worry about 'slander,' Jeffrey?
WIGAND: Who doesn't? It's all media now...
WALLACE: I understand. This isn't the Rapture.
WIGAND: It might as well be; I'm just trying to release information.
WALLACE: That's not that easy; trust me.
WIGAND: I trust you; I need lawyers from hell.
WALLACE: We know.
WIGAND: Maybe this 'case' will change corporate culture!
WALLACE: It will certainly mean ratings as well as reform...
====
