by Wade Manns
The Informant!
From Warner Bros., Participant Media, and Groundswell Productions
Starring Matt Damon, Scott Bakula, Joel McHale, and Melanie Lynskey
Rated R for language.
You might’ve heard in the 1990s about a certain scandal that went on among several agricultural conglomerates, involving the food additive known as lysine. This was a price-fixing conspiracy originated at Archer Daniels Midland, one of the largest American agricultural companies in the 90s, and continued around the globe in collaboration with their competitors in Central America, Europe, Japan, and Korea. Price-fixing involves competitors making a pact to set prices of a certain good to a certain rate in order to maximize profits for the involved companies at the expense of consumers, and is a highly illegal tactic which falls under antitrust law.
The Informant! Is a movie that dramatizes certain events in this scandal, and stars Matt Damon as Mark Whitacre, the vice president who became the first executive of a major company to turn whistleblower against his own company to the FBI. The movie doesn’t touch very hard on the specifics of lysine, but it doesn’t need to, as it’s not a very technical movie by nature; it’s a pure dark comedy. We see how Mark Whitacre, somewhat of a likable guy by nature, is coerced by his wife to report on his company to the FBI, and specifically to an agent, Brian Shepard, played by Scott Bakula. Mark’s sanity is called into question throughout the movie, as his years of working against his own company, wearing a wire, and even making excuses for his own wrongdoing (if you’re somewhat versed in this matter, you’ll know, but I will not reveal it here) take its toll on the once well-balanced man. Eventually, playing both sides for what he believes to be his own benefit, Mark slowly breaks down, in a process that is both humorous and cringe inducing, as dark comedies usually are.
The acting is quite good by all involved, though I have not seen Melanie Lynskey before this movie, her performance as the concerned and cautionary wife was quite memorable, as she really had Mark’s best interests at heart through the whole affair. Scott Bakula was quite a surprise in this, as I had not seen him in any movies, really, only in a couple of TV series, but he definitely held his own here. All in all, a good movie, not spectacular, not Grade-A Blockbuster, but it’s good enough. I would give it 3 1/2 out of five stars. I enjoyed myself, and am interested enough to do a little more research on the topic; I’m sure you will be as well.