The Informant: The movie

I really enjoyed Matt Damon's portrayal of "The Informant". Since it is an adaptation of a true story it made it all the more entertaining and surrealistic in its own way.

As I watched the movie I thought, "This man is obviously a genius with no common sense at all. But as you get into the movie further you see he actually is bi-polar and needs medication and has a propensity for telling tall stories. Then you couple this with his PHD in Biochemistry and you have a very interesting true story.

Since I come from (multigenerationally) a family that just doesn't trust any corporation to the point of deciding to be self employed each with our own business or businesses since 1900. So it was hard for me to place myself in the informants position because I was taught never to get caught dead working for a large corporation ever long term. When I saw the kickbacks coming from all over the world my thought was: "This company was drawing the informant into clandestine illegal activity just so if there was an informant he would be caught in some of the illegal activities of the corporation. Many companies worldwide work in this way so that all executive level people will be culpable if something bad comes down.

I have often said that the way most companies function in other countries would be considered criminal in this country. However, this is just how things are done around the world. So, if you are a member of a large corporation at an executive level you should just expect to be cornered into doing something illegal in order for that company to have something to blackmail you with should it become necessary for them. People in my generation and older have told me many such horror stories worldwide. So, what happened in "The Informant" is not unusual at all in the context of large corporations but just the REAL cost of doing business worldwide to peoples lives.

What was unusual in "The Informant" was his genius combined with a complete lack of common sense in regard to the real consequences at every point of every action.