Erin Brockovich ***1/2
Rated on a 4-star scale Screening venue: Odoen (Liverpool City Centre) Released in the UK by UIP on April 7, 2000; certificate 15; 126 minutes; country of origin USA; aspect ratio 1.85:1
Directed by Stephen Soderbergh; produced by Danny DeVito, Michael Shamberg, Stacey Sher. Written by Susannah Grant. Photographed by Ed Lachmann; edited by Anne V. Coates.
CAST..... Julia Roberts..... Erin Brockovich Albert Finney..... Ed Masry Aaron Eckhart..... George Marg Helgenberger..... Donna Jensen Cherry Jones..... Pamela Duncan Peter Coyote..... Kurt Potter Scotty Leavenworth..... Matthew Gemmenne De La Pena..... Katie
It's astounding, how many of us turn into lawyers when we get wrapped up in cases. I remember the Louise Woodward affair, for example, when I knew all the evidence from the courtroom pictures on TV, and was able to reel off detailed arguments crushing people who had just looked at her and assumed she was guilty. Passion about justice is what makes people consider law careers; it chills me when I see sell-outs trying to condemn obviously innocent people, or using dishonest tactics to help the guilty.
Stephen Soderbergh's "Erin Brockovich" is a brilliant story of anger turning into courtroom skills; a David versus Goliath-style exposé in the great tradition of "Silkwood", "A Civil Action" and "The Insider". At its centre is a woman with no judiciary training or expertise, whose mind was not complicated with red tape or histories of statutes, and whose discoveries and simple logical interpretations helped small-time lawyers win one of the biggest lawsuits in American history.
Her name, of course, is Erin Brockovich (Julia Roberts), and when we meet her in the opening scenes of this film, she's just a struggling single mother who has failed to win a personal injury settlement. Soon after, she hustles her way into a filing job at the firm of her solicitor. The boss, Ed Masry (Albert Finney), objects, but Erin makes her services hard to refuse: "I need a job. Don't make me beg. If it doesn't work out, fire me."
When handling the real estate documents of a town in California, Erin notices something odd -- they all include medical records. Researching this further, she stumbles on the information that the area's water supplier, Pacific Gas & Electric, has been using a dangerous chemical known as 'hexavalent Chromium 3' in their pipes. 'Chromium 3' can penetrate the body to cause pretty much any illness, including all forms of cancer.
What's especially horrific is that PG&E knew about the hazards of their water and misinformed its customers that chromium was good for them. The people took the company's word, even when they all started to get sick, until Erin Brockovich revealed her findings, and used her common touch to encourage the folks to stand up and take legal action.
Brockovich is not always a likeable character. At the start of the movie, when no job interviewers will look past her lack of a resumé or qualifications, her feeling of victimisation is preposterous. She seems to think anyone who isn't stuck in the poverty trap must be some sort of snob. And she displays gross arrogance when defending her wardrobe, which is made up of mini-skirts, tight boob tubes and high-heeled boots. "As long as I have one ass instead of two," she tells Masry when he points out that his office has a dress code, "I'll wear what I god damn well please."
But none of these flaws take away from her achievement, which is that she worked hard, taught herself some tough skills, became a great friend and advocate for victims of an abominable crime, and managed to raise a family at the same time. This is one of Roberts's most impressive performances, her best since "Pretty Woman" (1990), because she really does look affected by the pressures her character has to cope with. She allows herself to be vulnerable, with a voice that can quiver and stumble. She doesn't always have the answers, and could break down at any minute. There are one or two irritating episodes of grandstanding, where she rattles off snappy, heroic speeches that probably took the screenwriter hours to write; but that's kind of obligatory, and I'm just glad that such moments don't dominate the film.
"Erin Brockovich" is not necessarily better than the films I previously mentioned, but has advantages over each of them in one way or another. It's more fast-paced and accessible than "Silkwood", angrier about its subject matter than "A Civil Action" and less sidetracked than "The Insider". I'm starting to love director Soderbergh's new visual style, too, which he also used in "Out of Sight", and mixes the colour palette and star power of big studio movies with the documentary camera and quiet pacing of realistic independents. Sounds distracting. But it's oddly compelling.
COPYRIGHT(c) 2000 Ian Waldron-Mantgani Please visit, and encourage others to visit, the UK Critic's website, which is located at http://members.aol.com/ukcritic
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