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Reviews:
The
Case of the Misplaced Oscar: The Insider
by
Christian De Matteo
Super
Only now, two years after it’s
theatrical release, did I finally get around to
seeing The Insider, and I now find myself
questioning my previous wishes for the 1999
Academy Awards.
As many of you may know by reading my
reviews, I don’t put much stock in the Oscars.
In fact, I find them to be usually way
off base and ridiculous.
The best and most relevant example I can
give you of my grievances is Russell Crowe’s
winning of the Oscar for Gladiator, a
film that, while excellent, didn’t
particularly challenge an actor of his high
caliber.
The Insider, however, is a movie
that challenged him indeed.
Powerfully directed by the excellent
Michael Mann (The Last of the Mohicans, Heat),
the film casts Crowe against the always-amazing
Al Pacino (Donnie Brasco, Carlito’s Way).
This is an occasion that one must rise to
meet, especially when you’re character is the
title role, so you can’t be shown up or the
balance of the film will be off. Crowe does indeed rise to the challenge, and mightily so,
convincingly playing a much older man in a deep,
deep crisis that affects every bit of his life.
Whereas in Gladiator all he had to do was
be righteously indignant throughout, his
character here, Jeffrey Wigand, must choose a
course of action, knowing that his family’s
well being, as well as the well being of the
public at large, hangs on his decision.
The cavalcade of emotions Crowe displays
through the film with a subtlety so powerful is
exquisite, equal, in fact, to Pacino’s own
display of turmoil and confusion.
The
two work wonderfully together, wrapping the
viewer in for a heavy and desperate ride.
Working from an excellent script with
powerful visuals provided by Michael Mann, the
film grips the audience from beginning to end,
making them feel every inch of pain and
exasperation that the characters feel.
The
only place where the film falls short is in the
last thirty minutes, when Crowe’s title
character suddenly takes backstage to Pacino’s
Lowell Bergman.
While both men hold great import to the
film, it is Wigand’s story.
Why the decision was made to focus the
ending on Bergman’s battle, I’m not sure.
The rest of the film manages to balance
the two characters wonderfully, and the slip-up
at the end, while certainly not damning to the
film, does hurt its closure slightly.
Regardless,
The Insider is a monumental work, and the
one for which Crowe should have been given his
Oscar.
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