Ruffalo powerful in David vs Goliath legal tussle
DARK WATERS (12A)
A dogged fight for justice lasting more than 20 years exposes shady business practices and corporate greed in Dark Waters.
Inspired by the New York Times magazine article the Lawyer Who Became DuPont’s Worst Nightmare, director Todd Haynes’ slow-burning thriller details the ripple effect of a cover-up in 1970s West Virginia, which affects almost every living creature on the planet.
Screenwriters Mario Correa and Matthew Michael Carnahan infuse a conventional David versus Goliath legal wrangle with jangling paranoia reminiscent of the Parallax View.
They tether the inevitable courtroom showdown to an unlikely hero, who sacrifices his health and personal relationships to defiantly speak for thousands of God-fearing men, women and children, who are victims of indifference on a grotesque scale.
Mark Ruffalo transforms from muscular Avengers superhero to a hunched, harangued, jowly workaholic, who refuses to dodge his moral responsibility and risks flushing his career ‘down the toilet for a cowhand’.
Oscar winner Anne Hathaway is poorly served in comparison as his on-screen spouse, who witnesses the heavy emotional burden borne by her husband as he goes to war against a corporate behemoth with limitless resources.
Mild-mannered defence lawyer Robert Bilott (Ruffalo) works at Taft Stettinius and Hollister, which represents some of America’s most powerful chemicals companies.
Ahead of an important meeting with his boss, Tom Terp (Tim Robbins), Rob receives a visit from farmer Wilbur Tennant (Bill Camp), who lives in Parkersburg, West Virginia.
Wilbur is a neighbour of Rob’s grandmother and has been persuaded to deliver a cardboard box of videotapes to the Taft office detailing the decimation of his cow herd on land adjoining a DuPont chemical plant.
Despite his heavy workload, Rob drives to Parkersburg – ‘Welcome To West Virginia: Wild and Wonderful’ – to visit Wilbur, his wife Sarah (Denise Sal Vera) and their children.
The lawyer is horrified to learn the family has lost almost 200 animals.
With the blessing of his boss, Rob unearths evidence that the man-made PFOA chemical used in the production of Teflon might have leaked into the Parkersburg water supply.
High-ranking DuPont executive Phil Donnelly (Victor Garber) frustrates Rob’s exhausting pursuit of the truth, which puts an intolerable strain on the lawyer’s marriage to wife Sarah (Hathaway).
Dark Waters issues a primal scream of rage on behalf of thousands of victims, some of whom lost their lives before the first cash settlement.
Ruffalo powerfully embodies a stress-ravaged, crusading everyman, who shudders at the repercussions for his own family as he careens at sickening speed towards a physical breakdown.
By the time the end credits roll and a title card reveals the shocking extent of the chemical spill, our hackles are raised and any traces of PFOA in our bloodstream boil with indignation.
RATING: 7/10