An insider story is a narrative that features protagonists that begin their journey with some form of familiarity with the world in which they’re set. Often, their journey will involve a struggle to adapt to the strictures and expectations of that world. As such, the main conflicts may be internal, rather than (or alongside) external.

Few filmmakers can take a whistle-blowing dramatization of real life potentially dusty legal shenanigans and news gathering and make it chest convulsively taut, but Michael Mann does in The Insider (1999). Based on a 1996 Vanity Fair article by Marie Brenner, the film focuses on ex-tobacco industry researcher Jeffrey Wigand (Russell Crowe), who discovers that Brown & Williamson knew more about nicotine’s addictive properties than their executives publicly claimed—but to disclose his findings, he would have to violate an ironclad confidentiality agreement with the company.

Like the other films discussed in this article, The Insider raises critical questions about corporate accountability and the responsibility of media to protect public interest. It also highlights the dangers of a single individual’s ability to bring about dramatic change.