Kill the Messenger

'KILL THE MESSENGER': Four Stars (Out of Five)

Dramatic thriller film telling the true story of journalist Gary Webb. It centers on Webb's efforts to expose the CIA's former involvement in importing cocaine into California, in order to raise funding for Nicaraguan Contra rebels. It was directed by Michael Cuesta and written by Peter Landesman. The script is based on the book, of the same name, by Nick Schou and the novel 'Dark Allaince' by Webb himself. Jeremy Renner stars as Webb in the movie and also served as a producer. The film costars Rosemarie DeWitt, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Oliver Platt, Lucas Hedges, Barry Pepper, Tim Blake Nelson, Michael Sheen, Paz Vega, Ray Liotta, Andy Garcia and Michael K. Williams. It's a very fascinating and informative movie.

The film is set in the mid-1990s when Gary Webb first learned of the CIA's past involvement in importing large amounts of cocaine into the US. They did this in order to sell it in ghettos, primarily in California, in order to raise money for supporting Contra rebels in Nicaragua. He goes public with the story, in a series of articles called 'Dark Alliance' (which he later based his book on). As retaliation the CIA aggressively smeared Webb's name and harassed him and his family.

The film is really interesting and involving, from the opening scene almost till the last. It's fast paced and brilliantly directed, by Cuesta. Renner may not seem like much of an actor in 'THE AVENGERS' but in the right role he's fantastic; this is one of those roles. I'm a big fan of DeWitt, her part here is small but she's still powerful in it, and the rest of the cast is good as well. This is also a story I previously knew very little about, so for me it was very informative too. I definitely recommend it.

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I drove 140 miles, round trip, in foreboding weather, to attend the nearest U.S. opening.

It was well worth it.

First some context.

I've freelanced for decades, including during a war, successfully exposed major governmental corruption, weathered concerted retaliation and have been regularly appalled at the weakness of corporate, bureaucratic and political weasels who abandoned ideals, professionalism and integrity, "going along to get along." I was aware of Webb's writing and vilification at the time they occurred, in the late '90s, but for over 50 years I had a front row seat for even pre-Nixonian "drug wars" through the "crack epidemic," genocidal American imperialism, and the treatment of many other reporters who dared challenge the status quo, who had the courage to painfully examine the quaint and naive notion of collective national decency.

Webb's story, so artfully recounted and performed, was unfortunately true. He was accused of distorting the actuality of Reagan-era hypocrisy, but his reporting was accurate. He never accused the CIA of intentionally destroying the social fabric of minority communities, but made it clear that Harlem and Watts and Chicago's South Side were victims of "collateral damage," the inevitable consequences of the abandonment of any pretense of morality ostensibly possessed by the Reagan administration.

Indeed, spurred by new information about the practice of questionable property seizures, Webb had once again picked at the scab covering the decade-old, gangrenous infestation of our government, later well described by Robert Parry in his October 2004 Salon piece, "How Kerry exposed the Contra-cocaine scandal." To get the story, Webb had exposed himself to blood curdling danger, both at his own home in the U.S. and on the scene, in Central America.

Perhaps the worst betrayal of public trust by this film is depicted in recapitulation of the collective response of the New York Times, the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times, after being pressured by the CIA and the State Department. The papers' responded with hyperactive involvement in the personal destruction of Webb's reporting, reputation and life. Previously. the same papers, pressured by Reagan administration officials, buried Senator John Kerry's investigation, and shared subsequent malfeasance in their facilitating the Bush/Cheney administration's illegal and genocidal invasion and occupation of Iraq.

The NY Times and Post had some odious history themselves. Reporters Ray Bonner and Alma Guillermoprieto were reassigned to boring beats after their courageous exposure of the incredibly savage El Mozote Massacre in El Salvador.

There, the U.S. trained, funded and armed Atlacatl Battalion murdered almost a thousand peasants, largely neutral evangelical Protestants, and mostly women and children, on December 11, 1981. Stanley Miesler's El Mozote Case Study, published in the Columbia Journalism Review, exhaustively documented their fates.

This film captured all those similar disgraceful elements. It needs to be seen by a wider audience just as it would be wise to make "Dr. Strangelove" part of a core curriculum in the formal education of American adolescents.

"Kill the Messenger" details the tragic story of Gary Webb, the local newsman who blew the CIA/crack-in-L. A. story wide open. The scandal itself is heavy stuff, but the mini-biopic squeezed in there is also a downer. I enjoyed watching this film, but I think when the script gets distracted by family drama, things get muddled.

It is a well-made film and the cast is remarkable, top to bottom. But this is a Jeremy Renner operation without question. He's completely invested in the role, Webb's integrity comes through; it's a performance that demands attention. Sure, I'd watch this again, and mostly for him.

To be exact, Kill the Messenger isn't mainly about the CIA conspiracy which was exposed in 1996. This is more of Gary Webb's journey of unraveling some secrets behind the story and facing the consequences of revealing too much classified information to the public. The film shifts from conspiracy thriller to familial drama to give a clear statement of what struggles do honest journalists usually get. The direction seems to have higher interests when it comes to the conspiracy thriller mode, but when it eases down, it doesn't have the same enthusiasm. Thankfully, the star of the film, Jeremy Renner, carries the whole thing, making the overall experience absolutely engrossing.

The film isn't really that straightforward when it comes to its historical side, though the first half does have a keen focus on picking up huge details from one source to another. The film triumphs when it only stays to that root, taking us to a process of how journalism works. But that point didn't get much of the flow, because again the whole message of this film is the danger of getting into this situation. The other half of the movie concerns Webb's protection with his family, while it is important to get to know about his personal life, it sort of feels like a stretched intrusion to what else interesting happening. The rest of the story, specifically the effects of the exposé to the public, remains to be a series of real life footage of mobs and interviews. The film comes to life once again when they face the actual consequences instead of verbalizing their paranoia.

It could have been clunky, but the film totally benefits having Jeremy Renner. Even at its weakest scenes, the actor tend to bring real depth and tension, joining the audience to what his role is going through. This performance alone can be an instant recommendation to its entirety. The direction, as said, seems to spare its energy more on the investigation and suspense, which could have been straightforward in reporting the facts and putting the melodrama to the sidelines. The craft is solid as well, there are some strong production and stunning shots to be found.

Kill the Messenger is more ambitious in its sentiments of valuing the truth and going against political corruption, but it doesn't satisfy enough to reporting its history, especially when the movie is really good at depicting it. It just eventually becomes a cautionary film for journalists about exposing a vulnerable truth, showing us the main character and his family possibly at risk after what he has done. It works when it finally acknowledges that the government is now their enemy and building suspense behind Webb's back, but when it focuses to the drama of his personal life, it doesn't seem to fit on the pieces, however whatever made it still thoroughly watchable, again, is the acting of Renner. This is the type of merit that steals much of the value of the film, even if it's flawed in storytelling, the appeal just keeps on going.

I try to see every one of Jeremy Renner's films after his great performance in Kathryn Bigelow's THE HURT LOCKER where he played a Sergeant in Iraq dismantling IED's (improvised explosive devices) in the dusty, tension filled streets of Baghdad. I will never forget a scene in the shower, water pouring over his bloodied body slowly slumping down to the ground, tears mixing in with the wet spray that was bathing his body; an attempt to cleanse his psyche of the horrors of warfare. In KILL THE MESSENGER directed by Michael Cuesta, based on a true story, Renner is in another descent - one that is politically driven - in an intense performance as Pulitzer Prize winner Gary Webb, an investigative journalist for the San Jose Mercury News writing a series entitled "Dark Alliance" on the CIA's drug dealing connection to the "Contras" in the war in Nicaragua in the 1980's. "…Webb investigated Nicaraguans linked to the CIA-backed Contras who had smuggled cocaine into the U.S. Their smuggled cocaine was distributed as crack cocaine in Los Angeles, with the profits funneled back to the Contras. Webb also alleged that this influx of Nicaraguan-supplied cocaine sparked, and significantly fueled, the widespread crack cocaine epidemic that swept through many U.S. cities during the 1980s. According to Webb, the CIA was aware of the cocaine transactions and the large shipments of drugs into the U.S. by Contra personnel. Webb charged that the Reagan administration shielded inner-city drug dealers from prosecution in order to raise money for the Contras, especially after Congress passed the Boland Amendment, which prohibited direct Contra funding…" (Wikipedia)

In this film we see the backlash to Webb's reporting including correspondents from the mighty NY Times, The LA Times and The Washington Post who had glazed over the story in their own papers; the tragic manipulation of facts in order to destroy the veracity of Webb's coverage of events. We view the absence of San Jose Mercury News' editorial support at critical moments in Webb's heroic scrutiny of the research; the Reagan Administration's financing of a war through drug trafficking pitting "truth vs. power"; the perversion of principle to the needs of "security" on the backs of the South Central Los Angeles community. One does not need to "kill the messenger" with bullets - one can do so through the media attacking the person not the story under the potent pressure of the government.

KILL THE MESSENGER attempts to portray Gary Webb in his domestic, familial role as a loving though humanly "flawed" father of 3 children, with a supportive loving wife (the beautiful actor Rosemarie De Witt) all in danger and threatened by Webb's probing into the murkiness of political sludge - the undisclosed secrets of the inner workings of government aired out inviting dirty revenge. This is also a David vs. Goliath tale - a lone person who in his "innocence" believes in the unveiling of the machinations of authority through the pen and the judiciousness of our legal system.

The portrait of Gary Webb is a tenacious and vivid study of idealism in the fight for the unearthing of corruption. I left the theater saddened and disheartened, but at the same time hopeful for those rare individuals who are fearless enough to stand up for what they believe when their support system has been paralyzed. Hard to do! They merit my deepest respect and admiration.