A Civil Action
A Review
By Jeremiah Rickert
Starring: John Travolta, Robert Duvall, Kathleen Quinlan, William H. Macy, Tony Shaloub, John Lithgow.
Directed by: Steven Zaillian
Synopsis:
Successful and arrogant lawyer Jan Schlichtmann (John Travolta) seems poised to refuse to pursue the case of eight families, whose children died apparently as the result of pollution, only to discover that the culprits' companies are owned by a multi-million dollar conglomerate. Seeing dollar signs before his eyes, he puts himself and his law firm wholeheartedly into the task. He is so convinced he will win that he eventually bankrupts his firm, and his partners seeking a gigantic settlement. His motivations and ego are put to the test by a grizzled, but cunning lawyer played by five-time oscar-nominated actor Robert Duvall (Godfather, Deep Impact, The Apostle), and by the parents of the dead children, one of whom, played by Kathleen Quinlan (Apolla 13, Breakdown) only wants an apology.
Our first scene with Jan shows him representing the case of a man who will have to live his life in a wheelchair. One by one he helps the crippled man do all of the simple things that most people take for granted; drink some water, wipe his mouth, all in plain sight of the jury. This act convinces the defense team to settle for 25 million. When the judge in the latter case, played by John Lithgow (3rd Rock from the Sun, Buckaroo Banzai) grants the defense motion to keep the victims' parents from testifying, Schlichtmann's biggest weapon is taken away from him, he's forced to rely on facts, and thus begins his desperation to win this case.
The film would have you believe that Schlichtmann starts out as an ambulance chasing over-paid court-room pirate, and by the end, he is a humbled by his defeat and now understands the moral side of his job. However, I was not convinced that he goes through such a change. Perhaps it is just Travolta's natural aura, but I found myself unable to subscribe to his humility. In a way, he is becoming a sort of Kevin Costner-esque actor. No matter what part he is playing, you can't seem to ignore the fact that its Kevin Costner. Sometimes this is all right (Untouchables) and sometimes this is inane (Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves). Travolta as a drugged out hit man (Pulp Fiction) worked for me, Travolta as (take your pick) a super-cop (Face Off) and a Lawyer (A Civil Action) just doesn't allow him to quash the image that is naturally associated with the name John Travolta. Besides, who can't look at that big face and small blue eyes and not think Chewbacca?
Robert Duvall plays Jerome Facher, the wizend lawyer who defends one of the MNC's. He is also a professor of law and there are snippets of him teaching his class all of the courtroom "don'ts" just as Jan is committing them. Duvall seems to fall into what amounts to a "Matlock" sort of crotchety-old-wisdom routine. His talents seemed a bit wasted. Having recently seen the Apostle, I kept waiting for him to show some of that intensity, but alas, it never came.
There is a top-notch supporting cast that doesn't have much to do other than to be a Greek chorus of warnings to Jan and his ego-crusade. William H. Macy (Fargo, Air Force One) and Tony Shaloub (Wings, The Siege) are Jan's partners and they incessantly remind him of the realities of what he is doing, but he thinks he is indestructable, and in that obvious hubris, he finds his downfall. The talented actors are as wasted here as Robert Duvall was.
Casting choices aside, the script doesn't do much to convince the viewer that Jan has gone through some change either. Adapted for the screen by director Steven Zaillian from the book by Johnathan Harr, it is quite ambiguous whether Jan's motivation is justice or the replenshing of his depleted bank accounts. Is he fighting for those grieving parents, or his he fighting for his survival as a lawyer? that question is never clearly answered.
The advertising associated with this film misleads you into thinking he goes through this change of heart, where dollar signs don't matter as much as redeemed lives, but when you see the clips from the trailer in context, that message simply isn't there.
Zaillian who also directed last year's Amistad, again crafts a film that wants to be about a larger issue, one that is settled finally in a courtroom, but doesn't take place exclusively as other films in the genre have. In this post-OJ trail culture, people aren't necessarily thrilled by courtroom antics anymore, especially ones that in the wake of the hours and hours of procedure, paperwork, cross-examination, and redirects of that trial, make the Hollywood version seem, well, glamorized, more like a gladiator fight than the esteemed pinnacle of culture that our system is.
This film avoids the courtroom for the most part, focusing on the whirlwind surrounding the trial. For that I believe that Zaillian deserves some kudos. The film is a little on the long side, in pace if not minutes, padded with far too many gratuitous shots of either running water or glasses of water, or people sipping water. I wanted to shout "all right we get the picture!" but managed to restrain myself.
The film has an epilogue of the now virtually penniless Jan Schlichtmann soliciting some mystery group to take up the case of the poisoned water and what seemed like five minutes of text on the screen telling us what all happened in the end, something I won't spoil here. Twice, however, just when you think the film is over, it keeps going and going, finally clocking in a just under 2hrs...but what long hours they seemed, and even a Hollywood ending would have been better than reading paragraphs of exposition.
Overall, I found the flim to underlit and overlong, with fairly weakly drawn characters and an overabundance of water metaphors. Of the $4 economy time that I paid for this film, it was worth $1.
(c) Jeremiah Rickert 1999
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