Boring, political clap-trap ?No; not one minute of this well crafted, insightful movie is wasted.
Bergman is a hardened current affairs producer working on the 60 Minutes
programme. A man whose word is his bond. A man who delivers what he promises.
A man whose trust and confidence can be relied on. A man who gets people to
say what they need to say, not through cunning, conniving or deceptive means,
but through reliance upon his own, and his programme's, integrity.
Doctor Jeffrey Wigand is the ex-head of a tobacco company's research and
development department called upon by Bergman to interpret some documents
which have come into his hands.
As Wigand's former employers start to pull the noose of confidentiality
agreements tighter, threatening to cut their settlement pay-off, and hence the
health care support for his severely asthmatic child, Wigand discovers that the
company's threats to him, to keep his mouth shut, begin to materialise.
Wigand decides that enough is enough, and commits to spilling the beans to
Bergman on what the tobacco companies really know about the health issues of
cigarettes.
A decision which leads to the break up of his marriage, the loss of his home, and
a character assassination campaign against him.
The film has two main threads running through it; the difficulties faced by
Wigand as he exposes what he knows and the problems faced by Bergman as he
attempts to get his story on air.
The power of the tobacco industry is well presented; the huge legal resources
they can command to bring litigation to an almost grinding halt, the less
orthodox means which can be used to convince a whistle-blower to change their
tune, and the, "We don't know about that", barricade the executives throw up
whenever questioned about the nature of their products and the damage they
can do.
The roles of independence and integrity in the news and television medias are
also laid raw for us to contemplate. CBS's 60 Minutes has always been
known as having integrity and robustness in airing its views and stories, much
like Granada TV's World in Action in the UK; if what this film claims
to be true, then even the mighty super-power of CBS can be brought to its
knees by the fears of its executives under pressure from the tobacco industry
and other commercial concerns.
Given that such views are uncompromisingly presented it would seem that there's
more than just a hint of allegation here. A truly frightening indictment of the
powers that mega-rich companies wield.
This is a powerfully captivating film as we see Wigand's story slowly suppressed
and the damage that it does to the man.
Whilst the idealism of journalism, seeking out the truth wherever it lurks,
saves the day, the corruption and the publishing lies hang as a dark cloud over
the proceedings.
The story's end is not that Wigand finally gets to say what needs to be said and
the, well documented, consequences upon the tobacco industry, but the revelation
that CBS and 60 Minutes have tarnished their reputations.
As a citation for why we need a free, independent press we need look no further
than The Insider.
It would have made a far better choice for a Best Film Oscar
than American Beauty, but a much less palatable
one in political and media circles.
