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The Insider

Directed by Michael Mann

Written by Michael Mann and

Eric Roth

Cinematography by Dante Spinotti

Starring Al Pacino, Russell Crowe, Christopher Plummer, Gina

Gershon, Michael Gambon,

Phillip Baker Hall

DVD, Rs.499

There are two almost unavoidable temptations in dealing with a lone-man-against-the-juggernaut type of tale: the desire to sensationalise the affair with pulse-quickening moments that lead to style overshadowing substance, and the need to tie it all up in a neat little package, with the underdog winning out at the end.

While a master director like Michael Mann would rarely fall into the second trap, what is most interesting about The Insider is how wonderfully he steers clear of the former too. This docudrama follows the fate of corporate whistle-blower Jeffrey Wigand (Russell Crowe), who decides to blow the lid of Big Tobacco's most blatant lie to the American public when he is fired from his senior position at Brown & Williamson, and increasingly pressured about the information he acquired on Big Tobacco while at his job. Spurred on by CBS's 60 Minutes producer Lowell Bergman (Al Pacino), he gives testimony at a Mississippi hearing on a tobacco lawsuit to sidestep his confidentiality agreement, and then gives an earth-shattering interview to 60 Minutes. His wife leaves him and his life stands ruined, but he soldiers on in the hope of being vindicated when the interview is telecast. At the last minute, however, CBS rescinds on its promise and runs a version of the show without his interview in order to protect the company's larger interests. What is most interesting about this docudrama is that it never restricts itself to either Big Tobacco or to the inside dealings of CBS, as told to Mann and his co-writer Eric Roth by Bergman, but rather rises to examine the larger phenomenon of business interests overtaking social ones. Thus, although there are disputes on whether the film makes certain deviations from the actual sequence of events, these changes do not in any way detract from the film. On the contrary, these licenses are valid within the realm of docudramas, only serving to strengthen the underlying factual story, rather than to embellish it. Indeed, telling the story from the perspective of Bergman and attributing to him a lion's share of the attention focussed on the issue is what gives the film its more universal appeal, allowing it to step outside the box and get a bird's eye view of how things play out.

That Bergman is played by Pacino leads one to expect certain things out of the way his character comes across, and Pacino fulfils every last one of those expectations. In his interpretation, Bergman comes across as the firebrand in this sequence of events, a powerful mover of things that carries the tale through.

However, the real treat in this film is the excellent job from everyone else on the cast. Russell Crowe, for instance, infuses such passion and conviction into his portrayal of Wigand that his mild-mannered but resilient character touches the viewer in ways one might not normally think possible. Similarly, Christopher Plummer delivers a brilliant portrayal of 60 Minutes host Mike Wallace, delivering his defining lines on fame and infamy with an aplomb one would expect from one of the great faces of American television journalism history. Throw in a tight script and a nervy style of camera work directed by cinematographer Dante Spinotti, who also worked on Mann's Heat, and the result is a fine piece of filmmaking — fast-paced, but with all the understanding of the roadblocks in quality journalism. It might make good sense to watch the small featurette, the only real special feature in the DVD, before watching the film itself. Interspersing comments from the Pacino, Crowe, Mann and Bergman and Wigand with short clips from the film, the featurette helps emphasise the significance of the events that play out in the film.

RAKESH MEHAR

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