There is quite a cinematic history of films recounting individuals’ attempts to use the law to force powerful companies to make recompense for deliberately covering up the harm being done to the populace by their products. Films such as The Insider, Erin Brockovich, and A Civil Action have presented dramatizations of such attempts to pursue justice. One might question, therefore, the necessity of yet another such portrayal; however, Dark Waters, despite the familiarity of the plot line, manages to give it such a compelling and engaging take that it demands to be seen.
Based upon the 2010 New York Times article “The Lawyer Who Became DuPont’s Worst Nightmare,” Dark Waters, essentially following the facts, shows how Robert Bilott, a young corporate lawyer, found himself challenged to take on the case of a farmer, who was convinced that a nearby DuPont factory in Parkersburg, West Virginia, was responsible for the death of over a hundred of his cows.
At first, not wanting to have anything to do with the case, Bilott responded to the farmer’s plea to investigate only because the farmer was a friend of his grandmother. Much against the wishes of his partners in the law firm of which he was a junior member, Bilott began to suspect that the DuPont company was in fact criminally responsible for polluting the waters of the town with chemicals made in the production of Teflon. His journey from skepticism to gripping court drama does have a certain inevitability to it, but Dark Waters manages to be both involving and suspenseful.
In large measure, the success of the film lies in Matthew Carnahan and Mario Correa’s intelligent script, which not only manages to make clear the legal intricacies of the case, but also the chemistry which caused the harm.
At the same time, Todd Haynes’ direction is deft and well paced. A timeline at the bottom of the screen indicates the passage of the years, though this is hardly necessary because of the clever focus on phones, from pay phones to the latest cell phones.
More importantly, Mark Ruffalo as Bilott beautifully portrays an unassuming man who, almost despite himself and certainly with little encouragement from others, feels compelled to fight the industrial giant in defence of what proves to be thousands of victims.
Bilott is presented as a committed Catholic who risks reputation, career, and family life in his dogged pursuit of justice.
The supporting cast, including such fine actors as Tim Robbins and Bill Pullman, lend even greater credibility to the film.
Bill Camp as the farmer who is the catalyst for the action, despite an accent that almost demands subtitles, wonderfully epitomizes the tragic people who became the victims of corporate greed.
Anne Hathaway as Bilott’s wife is barely challenged by a part which requires her to do little more than show the brave young woman trying to keep the family together while her husband pursues what seems to be a Quixotic quest, but she does this with grace and style.
Dark Waters is indeed a film which follows a familiar path, but not only does it tell its story brilliantly, it also reminds us that perhaps we all need to be more aware of the contamination of our environment in the name of progress.
At the end, the film tells us that 99 per cent of the human race have traces of the deadly chemical that was an ingredient in Teflon. As we are challenged to think of this, we might also commit more fully to the challenge of Pope Francis to be caretakers of our world. We might not all be called on, as was Bilott, to take a leading role in this endeavour, but each of us needs, like the farmer in the film, to do what we can to restore our environment to health. Dark Waters is timely indeed.
