We have never been in a packed theater for a two and a half hour film with not a stir in the house. Even the ever-present shuffle of concession wrapping seemed mysteriously muted. The Insider mesmerizes on many levels. Every aspect of the story gives us an insider taste, not just of the world, but of the internal and interpersonal entanglements of the characters. We are drawn into the secret machinations of Big Tobacco conspiracies and lies, into the inner conflicts and search for courage of Jeffrey Wigand (a whistle blower), into the intricate machinery of TV newsgathering and delivery. Every step of the way, we are taken further behind the scenes where brave souls dare to tear at the carefully staged illusions. Our thirst for exposing secrets is quenched, but this is not an easy trip, neither for those watching, nor for the characters.

The Insider unfolds in a slow rhythm, with evocative, reflective soundtrack. Michael Mann’s direction takes us to the edge where we, even as witnesses, must make the choices and decisions along with Jeffrey Wigand (Russell Crowe) and Lowell Bergman (Al Pacino), the CBS "60 Minutes" producer who champions Wigand’s exposé. No character in this film is let go without facing a challenge and making a statement of integrity. We see just how hard it is to stand by the ideals we often brag about.

The conclusion is predictable: Wigand will testify. His story as a scientist and research head of a major tobacco company, Brown & Williamson, will be aired. He knows that the Presidents of the seven major US tobacco giants lied when they testified to Congress that nicotine was not addictive. He knows more, and he wants to dish it out. So what’s stopping him? In part, the threats from Big Tobacco. In part, his own taste for corporate position, wealth, and prestige.

The more troubling issue, for us, is not that corporations are greedy, rapacious, and almost tribally self-protective of their turf. This is ho-hum stuff. It is that CBS almost suppressed major aspects of the story because of fear of reprisal in the form of a billion dollar lawsuit from Big Tobacco. Even worse, some executives at CBS and within the news division may have worked to repress the full airing of the story to protect the CBS mega mergers and profits, which would be jeopardized if a fight with Big Tobacco commenced. Even Mike Wallace (Christopher Plummer) as well as the Executive Producer of "60 Minutes" caved in.

We are only safe as a society when there are checks and balances within government. As corporations rise to the status of mini-states, even nations, they too must be held accountable by free flow of information about their actions and particularly their foibles. It is the job of news people, maybe especially TV journalists, to assure that this information flows to us. On this level, The Insider may serve its most important role as a warning and call to action and reform in the news industry.

The co-hero, perhaps even a greater hero than Wigand, is Lowell Bergman. Pacino plays this character with superb dimension, rage, integrity, and almost avuncular protectiveness of the fragile and skittish Wigand. Pacino as Bergman is at his very best while he scrambles, manipulates, threatens, and cajoles a whole cadre of news giants including the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and sources at the FBI, among others. Bergman always stays within the bounds of verifiable information, "the facts" as they are known in journalism, but he breaks balls when necessary. He puts friendships and his job on the line to protect, even prop up Wigand. Never have we seen such masterful power playing and intrigue in a modern setting.

The Insider offers no easy stereotypes. Wigand is as much motivated by revenge and resentment as by altruism. His marriage crumbles as his paycheck diminishes and the props of the corporate good life are knocked out from under him as he faces the onslaught of relentless personal, public, and legal attacks from his former employers, Brown & Williamson. Wigand is no innocent here. His descent into the hellish world of peddling death through cigarettes was of his own choosing. He went from working as a research and marketing executive in health related companies into a corporate world he knew was killing people with its products, in part to get the mid-six figure salary. He freely signed the agreement that he would remain silent about what he knew to be wrong as a part of his severance package.

Wigand’s story is of course a major part of the current holding to account of Big Tobacco. We hope that, based on this public retelling in The Insider, more weight is added to the ledger against Big Tobacco. However, perhaps more important is this movie’s message that we need to carefully examine the legal doctrine used to silence Wigand and his kind as well as to cower CBS.

The interference with Wigand’s contractual relationship became a bludgeon in the hands of Big Tobacco who got an order from a Kentucky Court that Wigand not testify because he had agreed to remain silent as a part of his severance package. This legal doctrine, which is more complex than the movie had time to fully explicate, was perhaps the real antagonistic force that wrecked havoc and almost suppressed the "most important public health (news) story of this century". Defying it was the straw the both broke Wigand’s marriage and caused the panicked, cowardly retreat by CBS.

All of the larger societal issues aside, though, this is a wonderful study of the psychology of people involved in complex professions who must make decisions that involve real personal sacrifice and danger in order to do what is right. Perhaps, besides confronting the objective financial and personal dangers, we learn from this movie that it is a part of our nature to struggle over the question of telling or not telling. How many of us are ever pure in doing the right thing? Do not our difficulties arise from our own entropy, self-service, fear, comfort, and desire to conform?

As the Internet becomes increasingly important as a supplement to the enjoyment and understanding of movies, we want to direct you to the official website for The Insider. It includes the full text of the "Vanity Fair" article upon which the film is based. It is a fascinating supplement to the movie.