The Insider

I LOVED this movie! (Yes, yes, I will watch Al Pacino in anything, but this really is a great movie!)"THE INSIDER" is a true story and stars Al Pacino as Lowell Bergman (an ambitious producer and investigative reporter for the CBS News Show 60 Minutes.) He's good at what he does and is used to getting what he wants. He's worked with journalist Mike Wallace (played exceptionally well by Christopher Plummer) for many years.

At the beginning of the movie, Wallace throws a fit. He's in a Middle Eastern hideaway to interview the leader of the Hezbollah. The sheik's men are making demands about how close Wallace can sit during the interview. Wallace screams at a very unhappy guard. At one point, I thought someone was going to shoot him. Bergman asks Wallace if he's properly warmed up. Wallace replies yes. It struck me as being very childish.

Bergman is evidently "THE" best in his profession. He receives a large mystery package of tobacco company product safety studies. Bergman needs help deciphering exactly what they mean. Enter Jeffrey Wigand (played superbly by Russell Crowe). He is the head of Research and Development,a corporate officer at Brown & Williamson, and a top scientist. He's just been fired.

The chairman of Brown and Williamson, Thomas Sandefur (played by Michael
Gambon) fired Wigand for 'squealing' about B&W's very questionable research and business practices. Bergman is looking to hire Wigand as a temporary consultant for a potentially explosive 60 minutes segment. Wigand is reluctant and doesn't want to talk to Bergman. This could violate Wigand's confidentiality agreement with B&W and terminate the severance package he received. His cold, calculating wife Liane is played by Diane Venora and two daughters Barbara (played by Hallie Kate Eisenberg) and Deborah (Renee Olstead). Deborah has severe asthma. Wigand can't risk losing the insurance coverage because of his younger daughter's ashtma problems. Bergman and Wigand's relationship begins with several faxes back and forth to each other. He becomes the central witness in the lawsuits filed by Mississippi and the 49 other states against the tobacco industry. (They eventually were settled for $246 billion.)

Sandefeur threatens to terminate Wigand's severance package if the addition to the confidentiality agreement he's just come up with isn't signed. Wigand blows up, leaves Sandefur's office and makes the decision to work with Bergman. Bergman can tell there's something more to this story than Wigand can see at this point. He's very cagey and convinces Wigand to stand up and do the right thing. Wigand agrees, knowing that he's risking everything. His wife does end up cracking under the stress and leaving with the children. The secret?? The tobacco companies chemically enhance the nicotine content of cigarettes, which increases their addictive properties.

Bergman gathers a legal defense team for Wigand and tapes the famous Wallace interview that could destroy the tobacco companies. Powerful stuff here. B&W finds out about the interview and starts messing with Wigand's personal life. They do all they can to scare him into backing off of this story. He is constantly watched and stalked, he receives death threats on his computer screen and even find a bullet sitting in his mailbox one day when he goes to get the mail. Even knowing how dangerous this is, Wigand testifies in court against the tobacco industry for Mississippi activists Ron Motley (played by Bruce McGill) and Richard Scruggs (Colm Feore).

Wigand's life is quickly deterorating. His wife is a basket case. Meanwhile, Bergman meets with 60 Minutes executive producer Don Hewitt played by Philip Baker Hall) and corporate execs Helen Caperelli (Gina
Gershon) and Eric Kluster (Stephen Tobolowsky). They tell him the network
could be sued for assisting Wigand to break his confidentiality agreement.
Hewitt and Wallace order Bergman not to run the interview. Bergman blows up and gives them an earful about corporate interference. Pacino was explosive and this was one of my favorite scenes.

Bergman promises Wigand the world and in the end, Wigand definitely gets the short end of the stick. The show executives decided not to run Wigand's interview at the last minute when they find out it could result in a lawsuit that would destroy CBS. I felt awful. This man's life was ruined and for what? It seemed as if the corporate giants had won. But 2 months later, the Wall Street Journal ran Wigand's story in its entirety.

The seven heads of the tobacco companies go into public hearings and testify that they do not believe nicotine is addictive. I couldn't believe they said this with straight faces and without breaking a sweat! "The Insider" repeats the video of that public hearing four or five times.

CBS claimed at the time that they were protecting themselves from a lawsuit based on some legal point in Wigand's confidentiality agreement. Based on the facts cleverly woven into the film, we realize it had more to do with the impending sale of CBS. If they'd gotten into a major lawsuit, the sale would've either been scrapped or put on hold for years.

Wigand goes from being a respected, highly paid corporate exec to a
high-school teacher (which it seemed he was happier with anyway.) Bergman
left CBS for PBS' "Frontline'.

Crowe is an amazing actor. He played this part so well. Quiet and
contained most of the time, with so much fury boiling just beneath the skin. Plummer's performance as Wallace was magnificent. The relationship between Bergman and Wallace was surprisingly kind, and gentle in parts. I actually felt sorry for Wallace in the hotel room scene where he has a conversation with Bergman. He looks old and so weary of the fight and constant stress.

I enjoyed this movie very much. The cast was unbelievable and the acting
was done so well. Unfortunately, the scenes with Bergman and Wigand's
family made the movie seem to drag. All in all though, this truly was a
great movie.