Aubrey Malone
Mark Ruffalo stars in Dark Waters. Dark Waters (PG)
There are two ways of looking at a film like this, which is based on fact. On the one hand you commend Todd Haynes for resisting the temptation to give it a ‘wow’ factor, i.e. the obligatory scene in the underground car park where the hero’s life is threatened. Or when he meets a Deep Throat (á la All the President’s Men) who tells him his life is in danger and the corruption goes “all the way to the top”.
On the other hand you can criticise it for veering too close to documentary.
Rob Bilott (Mark Ruffalo) is a corporate lawyer embarking on a lucrative career with a major company. His frame betrays the well-fedness of financial comfort. His wife Sarah (Anne Hathaway) is the ‘little lady’. She doesn’t want to be bothered with his rants about a company (DuPont) that’s dumping toxic waste into rivers and poisoning cows.
But when she learns humans are also threatened with the carcinogenic properties of such toxins – Teflon is a big part of it – she becomes more eco-friendly. And a supporter of his cause.
It all kicks off when a farmer who hails from his neck of the woods comes into his snazzy office one day with evidence as long as your arm.
At this point Bilott isn’t interested. He sees him as a bit of a crackpot. Only with time does he realise the man is a victim of corrupt practices.
Ripples
The ripples widen. He starts to investigate DuPont’s various pollutions. Almost apologetically at first. The company’s MD asks him at a black tie event if he wishes to flush his career down the toilet for a smalltime farmer.
We’ve been here before: Silkwood. Erin Brockovich. The China Syndrome. Prom-ised Land.
Mark Ruffalo is a fine actor but here he just does an ecological version of Spotlight.
He needed to be more dynamic to make the David and Goliath struggle generate more heat.
Platitudes
We know where we’re headed from early on. The bad guys in the fancy suits are going to fob him off with platitudes until he has his eureka moment.
What’s ‘FPOA’? More particularly, what’s ‘FPOA C8’?’ And why is he disrupting so many capitalistic lives with his pesky questions?
After two hours we get the result of his labours transmitted to us via an endnote. He wins multi-million dollar suits. This is not a spoiler. An earlier note, transmitted before the names come down, informs us that the film is based on articles published in the New York Times called ‘the lawyer who became DuPont’s worst nightmare’.
I would have kept that information until the end if I were Haynes. I would also have injected more drama into the proceedings. Ruffalo’s hand tremors aren’t enough. His mini-stroke isn’t even enough.
Film is a visual medium. The film lacks a climax. I wanted fast food and I got caviar.
But it’s excellently played. One for the connoisseur.
**** Very Good