Whistle Blower, The (1986)

reviewed by
Wayne Citrin

                             THE WHISTLE BLOWER
                       A film review by Wayne Citrin
                        Copyright 1987 Wayne Citrin

Britain seems to be a hotbed of spy scandal these days and the interest seems to have made its way into art. There's the uproar over SPYCATHCHER, new biographies of Anthony Blount, and several books on the British Secret Service. In the movies, we have last spring's DEFENSE OF THE REALM, and this summer's THE FOURTH PROTOCOL, and THE WHISTLE BLOWER. I haven't seen THE FOURTH PROTOCOL, but THE WHISTLE BLOWER is far inferior to DEFENSE OF THE REALM, although they both cover similar ground. In DEFENSE OF THE REALM, a newspaperman who breaks a sex/spy scandal involving an MP discovers that this is merely a smokescreen for something far more disturbing (even to a jaded moviegoer like me). In THE WHISTLE BLOWER a Russian mole in a British electronic intelligence organization, and the death of a number of people in suspicious circumstances, draws the interest of one of the organization's Russian linguists, and then of his father, played by Michael Caine (who also appears in THE FOURTH PROTOCOL). Unfortunately, unlike DEFENSE OF THE REALM, which offers us something new in the way of political thriller, THE WHISTLE BLOWER offers us little beyond conventional spy stuff that is done much more inventively by John LeCarre. Caine seems to do little in the film except listen to people of the right and the left make speeches defending their actions. The ending is both a letdown and not entirely comprehensible.

I think that the premise of THE WHISTLE BLOWER would have been more effective if the story had been told differently. Film is a visual medium and story- telling in film is most effective then this visual aspect is exploited, and verbal exposition is kept to a minimum. DEFENSE OF THE REALM used the visual possibilities of film admirably, although it was far from polished. THE WHISTLE BLOWER resorts to tired cliches and boring speeches we've heard before.

For comparison, in an earlier review I gave DEFENSE OF THE REALM 3 stars out of 4, although I might give it 3-1/2 stars now. I would only give THE WHISTLE BLOWER 2 stars. It's not awful, only disappointing.

Wayne Citrin
(ucbvax!citrin)

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