#TIFF23: “DEATH OF A WHISTLEBLOWER” REVIEW

By David Baldwin

Luyanda Masinda (Noxolo Dlamini) is a South African investigative journalist who just watched her friend be murdered as he sat right beside her. He had been telling her about a story he was working on involving deep government corruption and secret chemical warfare tests dating back several decades. Luyanda starts digging to learn more about what he was researching and quickly finds herself in way over her head.

DEATH OF A WHISTLEBLOWER is a Political Thriller with a lot on its mind. It plays in the conspiracy space for a large chunk of the Film, extrapolating on genocide and apartheid allegories and the nose-to-the-grindstone brand of journalism exemplified by Oscar-winners like All the President’s Men and Spotlight. It becomes more horrifying and harrowing than I expected, made worse by the fact that this fictional film is very much based in truths of what actually happened – and continues to happen. The cinéma verité-style cinematography drives that point home and will keep you breathless for the first two acts.

Where the Film goes off the rails is in the third act, when it turns into a gritty revenge picture that bares little resemblance to the Film proceeding it. It is over-the-top and nowhere near as pulse pounding, trading real-world horror for something substantially more bombastic. I nearly lost the plot from the tonal whiplash. I do not fault Director Ian Gabriel nor his screenwriting team for making the pivot – as the Film is pretty explicit about what happens after the truth is exposed. I just wish it was more grounded. Thankfully, the Cast makes up for this, all uniformly solid no matter their length of screentime, Dlamini in particular. She soars through the Film, commanding your attention at every turn. The Film asks a lot of her and she more than delivers on it.

DEATH OF A WHISTLEBLOWER screens at TIFF ’23:

Saturday, September 9 at 2:45 PM at TIFF Bell Lightbox

Sunday, September 10 at 9:40 PM at Scotiabank Theatre Toronto

Sunday, September 17 at 3:00 PM at Scotiabank Theatre Toronto