I guess enough time has finally passed since the U.S. major media coordinated itself to destroy Gary Webb for his bold and courageous investigative reporting – honestly, I didn’t think a movie could ever be made on this subject, at least not by Americans. Webb was so villainized in the major media that even after he blew his brains out they could not write a kind, accurate, respectful obituary. (Here’s an excellent obituary of Webb, written by Robert Parry, the reporter who broke the Iran-Contra story and was quickly forced out of mainstream journalism as a reward.) In this year of exceptionally boring and inconsequential movies, Kill The Messenger stands out by tackling this historically important but largely forgotten story. The film feels a bit limited in its ideas, and its narrative approach is somewhat generic and a bit uneven, but it is nevertheless a very welcome film, one that is well worth seeing. Alas, it’s been out only four days in New York, and the theater at the 8:00 show at Angelica last night was almost empty.

As its title might suggest, Kill The Messenger is largely focused on (and is most successful in) its personal portrayal of Webb – what kind of guy he was and the tragedy of what happened to him and his family. Jeremy Renner is very likable and believable as Webb, and should be lauded for using his talent and celebrity in the service of such important material. But as a political statement the film unfortunately comes across as more than a tad cursory and superficial. The dialog is not very well written, and the film seems more a murky stream of hearsay happenings and unattractive people, rather than a clear and focused exploration of the many profound issues impacting the story. Its consistent use of jazzed-up music montages of grainy old TV footage (of Contra soldiers stacking money or stacking bags of coke) exacerbates this, creating an unfortunate deadening effect that somehow makes the entire political subject seem like a rather boring, technical, unsexy topic which deserves to be the historical footnote it has become.

I think where Kill The Messenger disappointed me the most was in the insufficiency of its technique (particularly its simplistic and uninspired approach to dialog), which placed huge limits on the ideas it could address in the course of the film. The film’s narrative, aside from its portrayal of Webb’s personal life, is practically telegraphic, satisfied merely with sketching outlines of the various players and happenings. Many topics deserving attention are simply rushed past – the significance of the article’s (at the time novel) distribution on the internet, which vastly increased its impact, both on the population and on the major media; its direct connection to the Iran-Contra investigation, especially that much of Webb’s evidence came from ignored facts that surfaced during Lawrence Walsh’s inquiry; the immoral and absurd line of defense from the CIA that since they had not “purposely” directed drugs into South Central Los Angeles there was no issue and no problem, and Webb’s reporting was pointless; and last but not least the incredible acts of international terrorism on the part of the United States, in its desire to destroy the democratically elected government of Nicaragua for no reason, a backdrop that casts the most profoundly tragic and damning air over the actions of the U.S. media and the fate of inner city black populations across America.

I could go on, but the point is that Gary Webb’s story, when viewed in its proper and complete historical context, is a canvas of such incredible depth and richness it is very disappointing to see it tossed-off with a mere “Polaroid” rendition. Someone like Costa Gavras was needed to make this film, someone who would not shrink away from the significant intellectual and writing challenges this material presents, and who would use the film to alter current public perception, rather than merely document the literal outlines of past happenings.

If you are not familiar with Gary Webb, Kill the Messenger is a fun way to begin learning about him and what he uncovered. It’s not a bad film. But with material this rich, it really should have been a masterpiece.