Addiction Incorporated

Victor DeNoble of the documentary Addiction Incorporated is no whistle-blowing Jeffery Wigand (Russell Crowe) of the biopic Insider (1999). While DeNoble starts as a scientist and ends up an adversary of big tobacco, Wigand evolved more slowly and less stridently into a whistle-blower hero.

DeNoble is a scientist who could have been an actor, a robust man of definite opinions who has none of Wigand's reservations about facing down big tobacco once he realized what he had discovered and how the companies could extend the addiction because of the discovery.

Having found the addictive element in tobacco, DeNoble (not unlike the promise of his last name) courageously exposes the killer in articulate moves that play less stridently than for Wigand. As the congressional hearings in the 90's move toward a settlement against the industry, DeNoble becomes both a pariah and a cult hero, teaching young people the dangers of smoking from a guy who discovered the link between tobacco and the pleasure center of the brain.

The talking-head testimonial segments are unobtrusive and organic, less artificial than in most documentaries. Nor is DeNoble held up as pitiable because of tobacco's discrediting techniques. He's a dignified, authentic hero responsible for saving countless lives by teaching and entertaining in an instructive documentary that's one of the best ever.