The Insider

Despite some occasional misfires with the likes of Ferrari, Michael Mann remains one of my favourite directors but his 1999 Oscar nominated film, The Insider, had been one that had passed me by so many times before. I had heard great things about it in the past but there doesn't seem to be any conversation surrounding it these days when compared to his early work with the likes of Heat. So it was time to see what my college friends had praised so highly and see what this was all about.

Based around a true story, The Insider follows a biochemist in the tobacco industry, Jeffrey Wigand, who is fired and then approached for an interview on their popular investigative show, 60 Minutes. However, Wigand soon finds out their are severe consequences to becoming a whistle-blower as it puts him and his family in the crosshairs of his former employer. 

From the off, Mann is full swing with an emotionally cold and brutally honest take on the events from the mid to late 1990s, and he succeeds in constructing a thrilling drama with a top cast of names. Whereas some of his films have this sturdy masculine approach which won't appeal to all audiences, The Insider feels like a much more frank and honest film as a family is stripped apart by the dangerous power of a corporation who could get away with murder, and it's Mann's approach which I see reaching to a wider audience.

The Insider has lost none of its impact today in the many years since it's release and remains a great film, which deserves more recognition today. It is a long one though, running at just over 150 minutes, and perhaps I did feel some of the momentum in the story give a little before the end but it is still a thoroughly engaging experience and an easy one to recommend.