Power And Faith. - Review - movie reviews

National Catholic Reporter, Dec 3, 1999 by Joseph Cunneen

Films take on the big issues

Since I already knew the story of Jeffrey Wigand, the former Brown and Williamson research scientist who blew the whistle on the tobacco industry, I didn't expect to get hooked by Michael Mann's movie version, The Insider (Touchstone). Once again, I was wrong; though most will remember that Wigand's eventual testimony led to a $246 billion settlement between the major tobacco companies and the 50 states, the director's sure instinct for melodrama and the work of an especially strong cast kept me on the edge of my seat.

Russell Crowe as Wigand is the moral center of "The Insider," successfully projecting the conflicting pressures on his conscience, but the movie is as much an expose of the media as of tobacco executive. It opens with a jolt, as cars rush through the crowds and confusion of revolutionary Iran, where "60 Minutes" has arranged for a clerical leader to be interviewed by a status-conscious Mike Wallace (Christopher Plummer).

I am hardly giving anything away by saying that the heart of the action has Lowell Bergman (Al Pacino), Wallace's idealistic collaborator, leading Wigand through understandable stages of hesitation before agreeing to appear on TV. The most shocking part of his eventual testimony is that the tobacco executives not only were fully aware of the medical dangers of smoking but worked to devise ways to deliver nicotine more powerfully to their customers.

Although I am less optimistic, a health worker with whom I saw the film believes that young smokers will realize they are stupid to subsidize such callous executives. "The Insider" is less about smoking than about the danger of opposing such powerful men. Since Wigand seems unwilling to come up with the research findings the cigarette executives want, he is quickly dismissed; Michael Gambon oozes with malicious confidence as the corporate boss who explains that a retirement package and medical benefits depend on signing a strict confidentially agreement.

Though too long (155 minutes), and drowning its audience with a souped-up musical background, "The Insider" is a superior suspense thriller. Its weakness is that it makes the issues too neat. Since his opponents are marketing death, we feel good about Wigand's decision to testify and are encouraged to feel as self-righteous as Bergman. Pacino, of course, gives weight to his role and avoids excessive ranting, but insists too much that he has remained faithful to his 1960s leftism. Russell Crowe is even more impressive as he sits slumped in a hotel room after his wife has left him and he learns that CBS has decides not to run his "60 Minutes" interview.

The truth is that both the movie and "60 Minutes" are affected by the ratings mentality, which encourages the idea that a personal expose is the acme of investigate journalism; docudramas or "60 Minutes" programs on the maquiladoras in Mexico or the effect of sanctions in Iraq might attract smaller audiences but would be more courageous contributions to public enlightenment.

The Insider" is a lot more entertaining than the Belgian-made Rosetta (USA Films), this year's award-winner at Cannes. The latter, however, though not aimed at those looking for escape after a tough week's work, is a reminder of what cinematic integrity means. Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, brothers whose first feature, "La Promesse" (praised in NCR) dealt with undocumented workers from Africa, here take a slow, penetrating look at a desperate 18-year-old girl searching for a job in a down-at-the-heels town near Liege. I haven't seen such a persistently close-up study of a female protagonist since Dreyer's "Passion of Joan of Arc," but here there are no expressionist camera movements or awareness of impending beatitude to soften the impact.

Emile Dequenne, who shared the prize for best actress at Cannes, had not previously appeared before a camera; she hurtles through "Rosetta" as if she would crash through a brick wall in search of a job. A hand-held camera is constantly chasing her from behind as she moves from one place to another, hiding her town shoes in a drainpipe in the woods, sneaking into the trailer park where she lives with a mother who has collapsed into drunkenness and sex. Rosetta tries unsuccessfully to motivate her mother, which further feeds the desperation with which the girl presents herself to potential employers.

The Dardennes, who wrote and directed the movie, don't play the obvious game of making Rosetta pretty -- though she would be, with the right make-up, hairdo and clothes. There are even times when it's hard to sympathize with her, but the Dardennes say, "We couldn't make a film about Rosetta if we didn't love her. We can only hope the audience loves her, too, because if you don't, she cannot live."

This is a movie that is as compassionate as it is tough -- no tacked on happy ending, no syrupy background music to exploit sentimentality. When Riquet (Fabrizio Rongione), a waffle-maker who has just met Rosetta, seeks her out at the trailer park to tell her of a job possibility, the rage and shame she normally keeps bottled up suddenly explodes.