By Eleanor Ringel Cater
In the movies, characters are generally less likely to whistle while they work (unless they’re cartoon dwarfs), than blow the whistle on unscrupulous employers.
From “Serpico” to “Silkwood” to “The Insider,” heroically challenging the System has been a good route to the Oscar short list.
Rachel Weisz already has an Oscar (for “The Constant Gardener”), but I think she’d be in the running again if her new movie, “The Whistleblower” had some studio heft behind it. Instead, it’s one of those game, low-budget, low-profile efforts that just won’t attract enough attention.
Too bad, because she gives a helluva a performance as an American cop drafted by a private security company as a United Nations peacekeeper in post-war Bosnia.
When she happens on a singularly despicable example of the sex trade (are there any other kind?), she blows every whistle she can find. And pretty much blows her own career as she slowly realizes — surprise — everyone who is anyone is already in on the deal, from the cops to her colleagues.
Based on a true story, the movie makes you wish it could’ve had more impact. Especially since it’s playing over Labor Day weekend, when we should all remember, your workplace isn’t your family…unless your last name is Corleone
