Dramatic direction drives story of whistle-blower

"The Insider"

Directed by: Michael Mann

Starring: Russell Crowe, Al Pacino, Christopher Plummer

Rated: R

In 1995, Dr. Jeffrey Wigand, a research scientist and vice president with the nation's third largest tobacco company, Brown & Williamson, was fired from his job. The reason for his dismissal was given as poor communication skills.

What really got the doctor fired was his vocal displeasure with the actions of "the seven dwarfs," the heads of the seven tobacco companies who swore before Congress that they believed cigarettes were safe and nicotine wasn't addictive. Yeah, and I've got a dairy farm in eastern Greene County I'll sell you for an industrial park.

Upon termination Wigand was given severance pay and allowed to keep his family's medical benefits, which were greatly needed because one of his daughters suffers from acute asthma. All he had to do was sign a confidentiality agreement and keep his mouth shut.

It should be easy, right? Maybe not so easy if you've got a lot of information and an ounce of human decency. Wigand knew that everyone in the tobacco industry considered cigarettes a "delivery system for nicotine," and that every manufacturer was manipulating the amount and potency of the drug to keepsmokers hooked.

He took his story to "60 Minutes" and risked everything he had for a chance to inform the public at large.

It's the "60 Minutes" angle, more so than the story concerning big tobacco, that director Michael Mann focuses on in his drama "The Insider." Mann is best known for his action pieces, TV's "Miami Vice," "Thief," "Heat," and "Last of the Mohicans," but here the focus is on drama.

One might wonder how a screenplay could be fashioned from a magazine article that deals with a 15-minute segment of a TV news magazine. Mann and cowriter Eric Roth manage to pull it off and, thanks to an impeccable cast, make a rather long (two hours and 40 minutes) film a taut, highly watchable drama.

Russell Crowe, so great in "LA Confidential," plays Wigand, who is just losing his job as the film begins. Al Pacino, in his most subdued role in quite some time, is producer Lowell Bergman. He calls Wigand to enlist his aid in deciphering some documents obtained from the tobacco industry.

In the course of their meeting, Bergman realizes that the good doctor is sitting on one of the most explosive stories of the century. The only problem is, if Wigand talks, he loses everything. Wigand is absolutely sure of this after a meeting with his smarmy former boss and B&W's legal team. These guys want Wigand to sign a revamped confidentiality agreement that will gag him even further.

Bergman and "60 Minutes" reporter Mike Wallace, played here to perfection by Christopher Plummer, are trying to find a way for Wigand to slip through a loophole that will allow him to tell his story while keeping his income and benefits. It's a hard row to hoe, but "60 Minutes" has a decent legal team itself and it's not exactly new to this sort of thing.

What the folks at CBS news aren't prepared for is the depth of the tobacco industry's pockets and the lengths to which it will to go to protect the goose that lays the nicotine-laden golden eggs.

Wigand is being followed, he finds a bullet in his mailbox and a threatening e-mail on his computer. Most disturbing of all is the fact that B&W begins digging up dirt on Wigand stories from an ex-wife, a shoplifting incident, the fact that the doctor maybe drinks a bit and the company is ready to mount one nasty little smear campaign.

It's at just about this time that the other shoe falls. In an unprecendented turn of events, the legal team from CBS corporate has advised the news division that it might not be a good idea to air Wigand's interview. It seems CBS is on the auction block, about to be purchased by the Westinghouse Corporation, and B&W's lawsuit, it's feared, might blow the deal.

Bergman is incensed, and even more so when executive producer Don Hewitt and Wallace himself side with the CBS lawyers. He's never hung a source out to dry and isn't about to start with Wigand.

In the years that have passed since this went down, Wallace flipped his alliance and denounced CBS for the way it handled the situation. Wigand's story has been told, the cigarette industry has been made to cough up around $250 billion and Phillip Morris has finally admitted that, yes, cigarettes are bad for you.

Bergman left "60 Minutes" shortly after the incident and Wigand now teaches high school.

"The Insider" is a compelling film, and Oscar nominations are in order for Crowe and Plummer. Don't let the length scare you away. The direction is so tight, the time really flies by, and the message about how integrity is compromised by commerce is food for a lot of thought.

(Jim Wunderle works at Associated Video Producers and is a Springfield free-lance writer and musician.)