DARK WATERS
****
Dir: Todd Haynes (12A, 126 mins)
A solid, worthy drama that makes full use of star Mark Ruffalo’s environmental credentials, this shocking true story angers and informs in concise, plain-speaking style. Ruffalo plays Robert Bilott, a high-flying corporate defence attorney, used to helping businesses out of troublesome lawsuits, who has a crisis of conscience when the DuPont chemical company’s misdeeds are brought to his attention. In 1998, Ruffalo’s lawyer is confronted by a farmer from West Virginia – Wilbur Tennant, played with irascible gruffness by Bill Camp. His cattle have been dying, poisoned by the water dumped by the nearby DuPont chemical plant and, as Ruffalo finds out, what kills animals kills humans too. A systematic, arrogant and hideous corporate action of cheaply getting rid of a chemical called PFOA, used in Teflon products – supposedly something to help our lifestyles, but it has in fact been poisoning us all for decades. Ruffalo’s dogged, obsessive lawyer finds that greed comes before truth, however, when he tries to battle an initially charming then sinister DuPont CEO (Victor Garber). His own boss (played by Tim Robbins) is at first reluctant to take sides. But as the conspiracy widens and the extent of the toxic dumping becomes clearer, he backs his lawyer and gets a barnstorming speech to boot. Meanwhile, Ruffalo’s family life is crumbling. Always tightly wound and internal, his obsession with the case initially baffles his wife, portrayed with believable exasperation and compassion by Anne Hathaway. Their relationship under strain, he is also riddled with crippling anxiety and paranoia about what could happen to him and his family at the behest of those in power. Corporate America is dark and riddled with shadowy figures out to prevent justice if it affects profit. This American Dream is quite literally poisonous, and Ruffalo’s dogged persistence shows that – although it may have taken nearly 20 years – some results can be made, but it’s far from a victory lap. The battle is ongoing and, so long as corrupt capitalism reigns, profit will always come before the environment and humanity. Starkly directed by Todd Haynes, this is a frightening (and ongoing) real-life horror story in which we are all complicit, as the planet and its inhabitants become subsidiary casualties for profit.
Opens Feb 28
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