(232'802 votes)A flamboyant law firm secretary works tirelessly to gain justice for a small town wrecked by a utility company's pollution.
Erin Brockovich, a 2000 American biography film directed by Steven Soderbergh is the depiction of the true story of Erin Brockovich who indicted the Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) for its culpability behind the Hinkley groundwater contamination and gave the company a legal battle of a life time. The film, featuring Julia Roberts (the protagonist) and Albert Finney as the lead actors received a huge critical acclamation and won the Academy Awards, the BAFTA Awards, the Golden Globe Awards, the Critic’s Choice Awards, the Screen Actors Guild Awards, the LAFCA Awards and the NSFC Awards. For her portrayal, Roberts became the first actress to win seven prestigious awards for a single performance. This box office blockbuster that grossed around $253.6 million received a rating of 7.4/10 on IMDB, 85% on Rotten Tomatoes and 73% on Metacritic.
PLOT
Erin Brockovich, a twice divorced, unemployed, mother of three jumps through hoops to get a job at the law firm of her attorney Ed Masry. While working on the real estate case files of the PG&E, Hinkley, California branch Erin finds the medical records of one Donna Jensen among all other correspondence of hers that raises curiosity. Upon paying Donna a visit, Erin learns about the Jensen’s serious medical conditions such as several tumours and Hodgkin’s lymphoma that was diagnosed by a doctor on the payroll of PG&E. As things start to smell fishy, Erin starts more digging and discovers evidences pointing towards the groundwater contamination caused by the carcinogenic Hexavalent Chromium used at the PG&E plant. Over a period of days, Erin finds several other families facing the similar kind of health issues due to the groundwater contamination who were made to believe by the corporation that they have been using a safer form of chromium. What initially looked like a mere compensation settlement later turns into a classic action lawsuit filed by the residents of Hinkley against the PG&E. Knowing that the settlement could take years or get delayed through appeals by the defendant due to the lack of evidence implicating the link of the PG&E headquarters with the Hinkley branch scandal, Erin and Ed move mountains to persuade a total of 634 plaintiffs to go along with a binding arbitration rather than a trial by jury. On an unexpected encounter with a former PG&E employee named Embry, Erin makes a headway and gets her hands on several documents tying the PG&E headquarters with the scandal. What verdict comes out and what happens to all those 634 plaintiffs is for you, to discover.
WHY YOU SHOULD WATCH IT
The portrayal of Julia Roberts as Erin Brockovich is outstanding. Despite having no legal expertise or any law degree, that woman was hell bent on digging old graves to find out the truth. Her flamboyant attitude, humour and courage is captivating. In a patriarchal society, she denied to be oppressed by any man and stood up for justice. You would not be able to help yourself from praising the mother of three as she fought tooth and nail for the future of all those children in Hinkley. The character of Ed Masry played by Albert Finney is laudable. His coherence and persuasive skills are quite a treat for the eyes of the audience.The director of the movie Steven Soderbergh [who is also famous for making films like Ocean’s Trilogy (Eleven, Twelve and Thirteen), Let Them All Talk, Sex, Lies and Videotapes, Contagion etc.] has worked his magic to bring all the characters in to life on screen. The remarkable yet witty screenplay and the spectacular cinematography would make anyone admire this masterpiece.
