Amazon.co.uk Review
As revisionist history, Michael Mann's intelligent docudrama
The Insider is a simmering brew of altered facts and dramatic license. In a broader perspective, however, the film (co-written with
Forrest Gump Oscar-winner Eric Roth) is effectively accurate as an engrossing study of ethics in the corruptible industries of tobacco and broadcast journalism. On one side, there is Jeffrey Wigand (Russell Crowe), the former tobacco scientist who violated contractual agreements to expose Brown & Williamson's inclusion of addictive ingredients in cigarettes, casting himself into a vortex of moral dilemma. On the other side is
60 Minutes producer Lowell Bergman (Al Pacino), whose struggle to report Wigand's story puts him at odds with veteran correspondent Mike Wallace (Christopher Plummer) and senior executives at CBS News.
As the urgency of the story increases, so does the film's palpable sense of paranoia, inviting favourable comparison to All the President's Men. While Pacino downplays the theatrical excess that plagued him in previous roles, Crowe is superb as a man who retains his tortured integrity at great personal cost. The Insider is two movies--a cover-up thriller and a drama about journalistic ethics--that combine to embrace the noble values personified by Wigand and Bergman. Even if the details aren't always precise (as Mike Wallace and others protested prior to the film's release), the film adheres to a higher truth that was so blatantly violated by tobacco executives seen in an oft-repeated video clip, lying under oath in the service of greed. --Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com
Special Features
German
English
Region 2
Dolby Digital 5.1 English German
Dolby Digital 5.1
Interviews
Italian\Polish\
From the Back Cover
Nominated for seven academy awards including Best Picure. Gripping and powerful,
The Insider is based on the true story of tobacco executive turned whistle-blower, Jeffrey Wigand. This edge of your seat thriller recounts the chain of events that saw an ordinary man up against a corporate giant in the fight of his life. Academy Award Winner Al Pacino (Heat, Scent Of A Woman) and Russell Crowe (L.A. Confidential, Gladiator) star as two men crusading together for a public health issue charged with emotion. This absorbing thriller also stars Christopher Plummer (Malcome X) Gina Gershon (Face/Off) and Michael Gambon.
Product Description
The story is based on the story of a tobacco excutive turned whistle blower. This edge of the seat thruiller recounts the chain of events that saw an ordinary man against a corporate giant in the fight for his life
