The Insider (1999)

Kino International

Daughters of the Dust

Film.com's FREE movie of the week is "Daughters of the Dust." A film that portrays the unique culture of the Gullah people by focusing on the extended Peazant family as its members struggle with the decision to leave their island and move north. On the eve of their departure, memories of their Gullah history and its African roots come rising to the surface. Winner of Cinematography at the 1991 Sundance Film Festival.

CinemaSource

Studio: Touchstone Pictures

Rating: R

Release Date: Nov 5, 1999

Running Time: 157 mins. (V)

Country Of Origin: United States

starring: Al Pacino, Russell Crowe, Christopher Plummer, Diane Venora, Philip Baker Hall, Lindsay Crouse, Debi Mazar, Stephen Tobolowsky, Colm Feore, Bruce McGill

director: Michael Mann

The true story of tobacco industry whistle-blower Jeffrey Wigand, the former head of development at the Brown & Williamson Tobacco Co. who went public on CBS-TV's "60 Minutes" as an industry informant. "60 Minutes" producer Lowell Bergman championed Wigand's cause and after many obstacles managed to have the segment aired. The relationship between the two men developed around their struggle to reveal the truth despite personal and professional hardships.

The strengths of director Michael Mann's "The Insider" don't have much to do with its revelations about the tobacco industry, or the blurring of lines between what's newsworthy and what's good for business. The real pull in this slightly overlong account of a real-life, 60 Minutes scandal is the expert storytelling of a tale of two characters: newsman Lowell Bergman (Al Pacino) and former tobacco executive Jeffrey Wigand (Russell Crowe).

Bergman's the former producer for CBS' 60 Minutes who…

December 8, 2000

Reduced to a smartass summary, The Insider is just a bunch of white guys talking for two hours and thirty-seven minutes about how truth gets compromised in America. Snooze, sorry, call PBS, I'm outta here. But such a gloss doesn't allow for the kick of Michael Mann, a director who could make visceral cinema out of a nun+s e-mail. True, Mann's work on TV (Miami Vice, Crime Story) and film (Thief, Manhunter, The Last of the Mohicans, Heat) usually involves violence - be it bullets or beatings.…