I don’t make it into a movie theater often. Can you believe someone had the nerve to elbow me the last time I hauled out my laptop and a flashlight during a boring scene?
But sitting in the dark, stripped of all distractions, and facing an enormous screen does enable me to experience the tension and emotions of the story being told.
When I do make it to the theater, I’m looking to be informed, inspired, or amused. A funny movie has to make me laugh a lot, such as Dinner for Schmucks.
In need of inspiration for the New Year, in January 2020, I chose to go see Dark Waters. It over-delivered.
Unfortunately, neither the Oscars nor the Golden Globes saw fit to nominate it for anything. Monday, I heard an NPR film critic describe the Academy Awards as “not relevant.” He termed them as nothing more than a promotional vehicle for Hollywood.
Main Characters
Mark Ruffalo produced Dark Waters and played the main character, environmental attorney Rob Bilott who fought DuPont for 20 years in a class action lawsuit that aimed to put an end to the human and environmental devastation caused by DuPont’s use of deadly chemicals, such as PFOA, in its plants in Ohio and West Virginia.
Bilott’s class action suit against DuPont is a true story.
Bilott was portrayed as gentle, yet dogged, an unusual, endearing combination. He also came across as straightforward, humble, and driven to do the right thing no matter how arduous.
Anne Hathaway gave a nuanced performance as Bilott’s wife. Her character evolved from playful and loving to stoic and loyal. She became a virtual single mother of their three boys, the first of whom was born at the beginning of the case. It clearly was not what she had signed up for nor expected; yet the depth of her love for her husband grew as financial and other sacrifices mounted.
Bill Camp’s performance was riveting. He portrayed the irate West Virginia farmer who convinced Bilott to take the case. The farmer’s cattle had begun dying from drinking the water in the stream that ran through his farm ever since DuPont had purchased the neighboring farm, converted it into a landfill, and began dumping chemicals there.
20-year journey
During Bilott’s detective work deciphering the trail of toxic chemicals, he discovers that the EPA started regulating chemicals in 1976, but chemicals that aren’t tracked by the EPA aren’t regulated. Whatever’s in landfill isn’t even regulated.
This story takes place over 20 years. Projecting on screen the current year in the story in between significant events to show how much time had elapsed worked well.
Dialogue
Precise dialogue skillfully moved the plot along. A couple of memorable lines:
Bilott, “I need to broaden discovery.” Fellow attorney, “You want to flush your career down the toilet?”
At a black tie event, Bilott encounters a peer who is an attorney for DuPont and their amicable conversation takes a turn. The DuPont attorney’s voice raises when he says, “Sue me.”
Bilott quietly answers, ”I’m already suing you.”
The DuPont attorney responds, “Fuck you.”
“Won’t back down”
Johnny Cash’s haunting, stripped-down cover rendition of “Won’t Back Down” ended the movie.
Well, I know what’s right, I got just one life
In a world that keeps on pushin’ me around
But I stand my ground and I won’t back down