Erin Brockovich
***1/2
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© 2000 Ian
Waldron-Mantgani
2000 Reviews
(alphabetical)
2000 Reviews (by star
rating)
Archive of all cinema reviews
(alphabetical)
Review Archive
Index
UK
Critic main page
|
![[Image]](http://www.ukcritic.com/posbanr2.gif)