The Insider (1999)

Directed by: Michael Mann | 157 minutes | drama, thriller | Actors: Al Pacino, Russell Crowe, Christopher Plummer, Diane Venora, Philip Baker Hall, Lindsay Crouse, Debi Mazar, Stephen Tobolowsky, Colm Feore, Bruce McGill, Gina Gershon, Michael Gambon

Where can you find great actors who subordinate themselves to the film as a whole; Michael Mann’s ‘The Insider’ is an example. Al Pacino and Russell Crowe complement each other nicely, but with stage actors it is questionable whether vanity does not get the upper hand. Not with these two. ‘The Insider’ is an adult film, as a human drama and not least as a thriller; you can leave the latter to Mann (‘Miami Vice’; ‘Heat’). However, he does not need shootings.

‘The Insider’ is about white-collar crime, how great its power is and how subtly the boundaries of reprehensible actions are defied. Weapons are not enough to fight against that; it is an individual’s free speech and knowledge that do it to him. It is therefore logical that psychological warfare is involved, portrayed by Mann with excruciating precision. It is also logical that a journalist and a scientist find each other. But ‘The Insider’ goes even deeper: the non-obvious personal connection between the street-wise TV producer and the lisping academic transcends their business. Rough shell, white pit Bergman takes care of the fate of the introverted doubter Wigand because, like him, he is guided by conscience.
It could easily lead to clichés, but director and actors hold back. They would rather make a subdued film about moral action than indulge in heroism or moralism, quite an achievement in the sentiment-saturated film world and once again proof that a well-documented story with the ‘truth’ as ​​its shaky foundation gets another chance. in Hollywood – the biggest troublemaker for the makers was perhaps the real Jeffrey Wigand; he demanded that smoking was not allowed in the film.

Certainly, it takes a long time before it becomes clear what Wigand actually wants to come out with; the studious Russell Crowe manages to keep the attention, but has to watch out for ‘overacting’. It’s Al Pacino who gives the movie balls. He cannot be typecast as an actor, but always Al Pacino. Watch him rant against contemporaries Christopher Plummer and Philip Baker Hall; study carefully how, as Bergman, he tries to gain Wigand’s trust, yet subtly manipulates him. A lifetime achievement award for this man, please, if only for all those missed Oscars.