WHAT IS LIFE WORTH?
HOW do you put a dollar value on a human life?
A hard-nosed lawyer (Michael Keaton) comes up with a mathematical formula to address that problem in this compelling biographical drama, set in the immediate aftermath of 9/11.
But he doesn’t factor in the emotional variables.
Families and survivors eventually show him where he went wrong.
Worth, currently screening on Netflix, is a lot more nuanced than its basic plot outline would suggest, thanks to a polished screenplay by Max Borenstein (Kong: Skull Island) and intelligent performances from its three leads.
The film is based on the memoir of Washington lawyer Kenneth Feinberg (Keaton), who was appointed to administer the US Government’s September 11 Victim Compensation Fund just three months after the World Trade Centre collapsed.
Although Feinberg and his team would eventually go on to award more than $US7 billion to 5560 victims and survivors, the ethical and practical challenges they faced were enormous.
In this version of events, Feinberg also has to overcome his own insensitivity and arrogance to successfully sell the fund to distrustful victims, from janitors to chief executives.
He gets a bit of help from a frustrated firefighter (Chris Tardio), a grieving widow (Laura Benanti), and an exceptionally well-mannered grassroots activist named Charles Wolf Jr (Stanley Tucci), whose wife died in the coordinated terror attacks.
Worth tackles this difficult and potentially dry subject matter with a light, sure touch.
The filmmakers acknowledge the cynical, behind-the-scenes political machinations that gave birth to the fund – including Congress’s bailout of the airline industry – without getting bogged down by them. The inequity of the compensation process is similarly well handled.
When director Sara Colangelo (The Kindergarten Teacher) juxtaposes the reaction of the families of first-generation immigrants to a $US200,000 settlement offer with the ruthless negotiating tactics of a lawyer representing a bunch of Wall St brokers, her intentions are clear.
But Colangelo respects her audience’s intelligence by keeping a tight rein on the characters’ emotions.
She and Borenstein also peel back some of the layers of the hero myth, reminding us that anger can sometimes be a mask for guilt and that courageous firefighters can still have significant human flaws (all these stories are true).
Even the central character’s requisite 11th-hour reprieve is nicely underplayed – Keaton is far too good an actor to mug it for the camera.
Amy Ryan puts just enough flesh on a tough role as Feinberg’s administrative deputy, Camille Biros, to make her seem real.
Tucci provides some necessary warmth as the thorn in Feinberg’s side.
Timely, clear-eyed, thoughtful – Worth offers a fresh perspective on the 9/11 story.
Worth is now screening on Netflix.