The following is a guest post by Monique Mercer.

Kill the Messenger is a true story about a reporter, Gary Webb, who wanted that highly coveted big story that would rocket his small time local career to the big time. He got what he asked for. While working at the San Jose Mercury News, he receives a call from a woman Coral Bacca who asked him to meet her. She gave him classified documents that showed the US government was involved in bringing cocaine to our shores.

Her boyfriend Rafael Conejo, Ricky Ross, Donilo Blandon and Norwin Meneses were key players in trafficking cocaine in Los Angeles and other urban areas. While the government of the United States was publicly denouncing drugs and giving harsh jail sentences to offenders, they were secretly participating in the cover up of the massive crack cocaine epidemic and using this money to support the Nicaraguan Contra war.

Some stories are too true to tell especially when it involves the US Government, The CIA and National Security. Gary Webb didn’t see it that way. He was a thorough, insightful reporter who thought the American public should know the truth. He lined up all the key players; interviewed, documented and copied all the evidence he was presented. However, the government of the United States thinks its citizens can’t handle the truth. When our secrets are made public those people who expose the truth
are often scrutinized, badgered, publicly humiliated, discredited, and often times prosecuted as the scapegoat of government’s misdeeds.

This very thing happened to Gary Webb soon after his 1996 series expose, “Dark Alliance,” was published. Witnesses recanted their stories, news agencies that were first in his corner backed out of their support. His family was investigated and followed, his car was tampered with, unknown government agents showed up at his house and started going through his things, and some witnesses disappeared. Under pressure from sources undisclosed, the owners at the San Jose Mercury News demoted then transferred Webb even as they sat with him while he was being honored as the “Journalist of the Year.” They broke him down and hung him out to dry. In order to keep his job they transferred him out of town to an even smaller newspaper. When Jerry Ceppos, Executive Editor of the San Jose Mercury News, refused to publish Webb’s follow-up story to “Dark Alliance,” he quit his job and was never able to find work as a mainstream journalist again.

I liked the way the way the movie was paced. It wasn’t too slow or too fast so I didn’t get bored by the historical propaganda flashing across the screen: three presidents —  Nixon, Ford and Carter — saying that drugs were bad and that drug smugglers were paramount to domestic terrorists that should be hunted down. What I liked most about the movie was how Gary Webb was portrayed as an Average Joe. He was a down to earth thorough investigative reporter, digging and digging some more until he found the
truth. He was a man, a family man with a wife and three children. He wasn’t perfect. He had an affair in Ohio; and after the woman he was involved with committed suicide; the family moved to California for a fresh start.

His three children were well behaved, well mannered kids. Webb wasn’t just a workaholic, he shared a special moment with his oldest son Lucas when he bought him a motorcycle to restore. The movie showed how ordinary this man’s life was, the good, the bad and the mundane, and how it was turned upside down as soon he pursued the story many people in our country didn’t want him to tell. Jeremy Renner executed a solid performance as the loving family man and dedicated reporter in this political thriller.

On December 10th, 2004, Gary Webb was found dead with two gun shots to the head. The coroner ruled it an apparent suicide. How does one shoot himself two times in the head? Why hasn’t anyone properly investigated this man’s death? Why would someone who was finally getting himself back in the game of reporting spend all that time getting a new job if he wasn’t going to follow through with it?

They say this movie somehow helps vindicate Webb, the reporter who shared the truth with the American public on the misdeeds and subterfuge of the CIA and other members of our government. Mr. Webb will not be vindicated until they prove the cause of his death. The Title, Kill the Messenger, seems to suggest this very thought.

See it now and let me know what you think: suicide or murder? I say murder.

THIS OFFER HAS EXPIRED. COMMENTS ARE CLOSED.

CliqueClack has partnered with Focus Features to offer readers in Baltimore, DC and Boston an opportunity to attend an advance screening of the new dramatic thriller Kill the Messenger starring Jeremy Renner, Rosemarie DeWitt, Ray Liotta, John Cullen, Tim Blake Nelson, Barry Pepper, Oliver Platt, Michael Sheen, Paz Vega, Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Andy Garcia.

Two-time Academy Award nominee Jeremy Renner (The Bourne Legacy) leads an all-star cast in a dramatic thriller based on the remarkable true story of Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Gary Webb. Webb stumbles onto a story which leads to the shady origins of the men who started the crack epidemic on the nation’s streets … and further alleges that the CIA was aware of major dealers who were smuggling cocaine into the U.S., and using the profits to arm rebels fighting in Nicaragua. Despite warnings from drug kingpins and CIA operatives to stop his investigation, Webb keeps digging to uncover a conspiracy with explosive implications. His journey takes him from the prisons of California to the villages of Nicaragua to the highest corridors of power in Washington, D.C. — and draws the kind of attention that threatens not just his career, but his family and his life.

The screenings will take on Wednesday, October 8 at 7:30 PM at the following locations:

• Regal Gallery Place, Washington, DC
• Cinemark Egyptian, Hanover, MD
• AMC Boston Common (note show time is 7:00 PM for this location)

A limited number of passes are available on a first come, first served basis. To be eligible, please read and follow the directions CAREFULLY. There will be no exceptions.

• Comment on this post ONLY with one of the following locations: DC, HANOVER or BOSTON. Do not include anything else in your comment or it will be invalid. If you make a mistake, do not edit your comment because it will not register. You must submit a new comment.
• Include your FULL NAME (First and Last) and email address on the entry form (NOT in the comment box!). Double check your email address before submitting. If your email address is misspelled, you will not receive passes.
• ONE entry per person or couple will be accepted. One Admit Two pass will be awarded per comment. Please do not request more than one pair. CliqueClack has the right to discard any duplicates or comments that appear to be duplicates. Multiple comments from a single person will result in complete disqualification. As this is not a random drawing, only one person per couple needs to comment. Keep these offers fair for everyone!
• Check your calendar before commenting. If you have no intention of using the passes, please don’t leave a comment. If the studios see that passes we are given to award to our readers are not being used, they will not want to offer us passes for future screenings. Please be considerate!

Please note that passes do not guarantee seats at the screening. Seating is first come, first served so plan to arrive early. CliqueClack has no control over the total number of passes distributed, and is not responsible for seating arrangements at the theater. Please note: Kill the Messenger is rated R for language and drug content. No one under 17 will be admitted without a parent or guardian.

Have a look at the trailer below and then let us know where you want to see the film!

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=2N2nuDtJX0M