KILL THE MESSENGER

US, 2014, 112 minutes, Colour.
Jeremy Renner, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Rosemarie de Witt, Oliver Platt, Robert Patrick, Tim Blake Nelson, Michael Kenneth Williams, Andy Garcia, Michael Sheen, Richard Schiff, Ray Liotta.
Directed by Michael Cuesta.

Everybody loves a conspiracy theory. How many people killed President John F.Kennedy? Was Pope John Paul I murdered? Was the moon landing in 1969 faked? In Kill the Messenger, the question is raised as to the CIA importing drugs into the United States, especially to Los Angeles South Central, to make money to buy arms for the Contras in Nicaragua during the 1980s, during the Reagan administration?

This is a film about journalism, about investigative journalism. We remember All the Presidents Men and Deep Throat revealing information about the Watergate scandal to Woodward and Bernstein. This film is not in that league but it is very interesting nonetheless. It is based on the research by San Jose journalist, Gary Webb.

The film opens with a visual collage of American presidents from Nixon on proclaiming a war against drugs. Gary Webb is working at a small newspaper but is asked by a young woman, Paz Vega, to take some court documents that have been released by accident. He follows through, going to the court, raising suspicions in some of the lawyers when a key state witness is giving evidence about his being an agent for the government, bringing large supplies of drugs into the United States.

Mary Elizabeth Winstead plays Webb’s editor, and Oliver Platt plays his boss. They are wary because this is a huge story and they don’t have the resources or the reputation. Nevertheless, Webb goes to Nicaragua following up some leads and interviews an imprisoned drug boss, played by Andy Garcia, who gives him even more information, including a source in Washington DC, played by Michael Sheen, who is wary and later phones Webb to urge caution.

When his article is published, there is an extraordinary response, especially from television stations asking for interviews and he is named journalist of the year in Sacramento. What follows is the drama of conspiracy to cover up, especially from suited agents who even raid his home in the middle of the night. Then there is the campaign to discredit him, criticising his sources, criticising his reliability and his personal life.

The screenplay gives a lot of attention to Webb’s home life, his moving from Cleveland to California in the aftermath of an affair with a fellow journalist. He has an ever-loving and ever-patient wife, played by Rosemarie de Witt, three children, especially a 16-year-old who has had him on a pedestal. Webb is assigned a post in the quiet town of Cupertino, California, in the hope that the case will go away.

There is a dramatic scene at the making of the award for journalist of the year, his family supporting him, journalists tending to shun him. There is final information about what happened to Webb and some late 1990s television footage of John Kerry, amongst others, indicating that there was truth to the story and the CIA involvement in drug dealing, along with a lot of footage of politicians from Los Angeles Central, calling the CIA to task for targeting African- Americans as potential for drug customers and so ruining many lives.

The film is interesting, at times exciting, a lot of the time focusing on the domestic life of Gary Webb as well as his work at the local paper, not a masterpiece of movie communication but offering a lot to think about in terms of government, cover-ups, and, especially, investigative journalism.

1. Based on a true story? The story of a journalist? His investigation? CIA? Government? Conspiracy? The opening and the collage of quotations from the American presidents about the war against drugs?

2. The title, Gary Webb as victim, his message, his investigative work, the revelations? The consequences for him? His work?

3. The Californian settings, San Jose, homes, the paper and offices? San Francisco and the courts? Washington DC and the official departments? The newspaper offices? Nicaragua, the city, the prison? The authentic feel? The musical score?

4. The introduction, the, collage of information, the various presidents and the war against drugs? The issue of Nicaragua, the 1980s, the Contras, the need for cash, the drugs imported into the United States, sold in LA South- Central, the money for weapons for the Contras? The role of the politicians? The politicians in LA South-Central? and their challenge to the CIA? The newsreel footage? John Kerry in 1997 and his statements?

5. The papers, editors, the boards, in the different cities, the influence, the pressures?

6. Webb at work, the approach from the Hispanic woman, their talk, her offering the documents, his examining them? Her motivations? Going to the court, the lawyer and accosting him, the lawyer’s suspicions, Webb and his interviews? In court, feeding the lawyer with information, the response of the judge, the hostility of the lawyer?

7. The court case, the dealer, in the pay of the Americans, the truth, the expose?

8. Webb going to Nicaragua, the situation there, meeting the boss in jail, his lording it over others in the prison, his information, his advice?

9. Going to Washington, the Washington connection and his position, their discussions, the information, the caution – his later warning phone call?

10. Writing the story, the editor and the assistant and her response? Her sympathy for Webb?

11. The beginning of the attacks, denials, alternate facts, criticism of the sources, authorities denials? The personal attack on Webb, the dredging up of his affair, the story of the affair, the woman’s suicide, the move from Cleveland to California? The son and his response?

12. The family, the son and his ideals, Webb’s wife, moving out, her loving him? The son’s reaction?

13. The favourable television interviews, Webb attending to intending to prove his story? The award nomination? The changes, his being dropped, under suspicion, his reputation lost? The response of the editor and the assistant? The pressures on them?

14. His going to Cupertino, the boring work, his continuing his investigations?

15. The effect on Webb, and his wife? Their meetings and discussions?

16. The process of discrediting Webb, the authorities, the FBI, the CIA, the visits to the house, the ransacking of the house? The visit of John Cullen, secret of, his conscience?

17. The award night, the family getting ready to go, the dinner, standing by his story, his speech, going out – into the loneliness?

18. The film showing the work of journalists, vocation, dedication of life, dedication to stories in the truth, story making or breaking?

19. The final credits, the Internet information about Webb, his death?