Review of The Insider (1999) by Kevin V — 08 Sep 2009

Russell Crowe and Al Pacino both put in fantastic performances in this film. Based on the true story of how it first came out that nicotine was addictive and how tobacco companies knew all long but tried to hide it. Crowe's character Dr. Wigand has his life torn apart by the tobacco companies who try to discredit him and bully him into keeping his mouth shut. Pacino's character Lowell Bergman is the producer of 60 minutes and the man responsible for getting Wigand to come forward. Yet the tobacco companies get to the network and the interview is at risk of never being viewed. Both mens lives are forever changed and the American public becomes aware of just how dangerous tobacco truely is.

"You pay me to go get guys like Wigand, to draw him out. To get him to trust us, to get him to go on television. I do. I deliver him. He sits. He talks. He violates his own fucking confidentiality agreement. And he's only the key witness in the biggest public health reform issue, maybe the biggest, most-expensive corporate-malfeasance case in U.S. history. And Jeffrey Wigand, who's out on a limb, does he go on television and tell the truth? Yes. Is it newsworthy? Yes. Are we gonna air it? Of course not. Why? Because he's not telling the truth? No. Because he is telling the truth. That's why we're not going to air it. And the more truth he tells, the worse it gets!".