Film Review: Risk (2000)

White collar crime is the most destructive form of crime in terms of the cost for the society. It is, however, also very difficult to detect and even more difficult to dramatically portray on screen. This was the challenge taken by the authors of Risk, 2000 Australian crime drama directed by Alan White.

The film is based on The Adjuster, short story by American author Tracy Kidder. Protagonist and narrator is Ben Madigan (played by Tom Long), young man who came to big city seeking fortune. He has found a job in large insurance company and started working as trainee under mentorship of John Kreisky (played by Bryan Brown), veteran of personal injury insurance assessment. Ben gradually learns his trade and soon discovers that Kreisky has saved millions of dollars for the company by ability to settle out of court, yet he never advanced in his position. Ben soon learns that Kreisky has developed scheme that involves false insurance claims filed by sexy looking solicitor Louise Roncoli (played by Claudia Karvan). Ben is at first reluctant to get involved in obviously illegal activity, but changes his mind when Louise begins torrid sexual relationship with him.

Insurance fraud is a form of white collar crime relatively easy to explain to lay people, but scriptwriter John Armstrong doesn’t bother audience with too many technical details. Nevertheless, the plot works well and allows director Alan White to give a lot emphasis on style. Cinematography by Simon Duggan is effective in creating atmosphere of cold, heartless and faceless corporate world where individuals are just cogs in huge machines and many of them understandably can’t resist temptation to take the easy route to good life. Director Alan White keeps good tempo and has very good cast at his disposal, most notably veteran Bryan Brown who obviously enjoys his role. He easily overshadows Tom Long playing protagonist who transforms from idealist empathising with accident victims into younger version of cynical Kreisky. Long is nevertheless good, just as Claudia Karvan, although some would look at her role, which requires a lot of revealing clothes and even some nudity, as a noirish cliché or eye candy. Despite surprisingly violent ending looks a little bit out of place for this kind of story, Risk is well-made film that deserves recommendation.

RATING: 6/10 (++)

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