Dark Waters * * * *
There is a scene in this film where Mark Ruffalo, as lawyer Rob Billot, is crawling around on the kitchen floor, dragging out the household cookware and telling his rather concerned wife (Ann Hathaway), "This stuff has got to go!"
I pretty well did the same thing when I got home.
I'm throwing out my non-stick cookware and never buying another one.
The thing about pre-2015 non stick cookware (Teflon) is that it has a content known as PFOA, which is fine if locked away, but it can get out when the pan overheats or deteriorates (and mine are falling apart). And as for overheating (burning), let's not even talk about that.
Worse still, is the way Teflon is/was manufactured - and that's really what this story is about.
For years DuPont were somewhat cavalier at their West Virginia plant where Teflon was being made. They were experimenting on their own staff. They were hiding the facts. They were burying waste in leaky drums and it was seeping into the water.
Meanwhile, downstream, a farmer was losing his livestock. His cattle were giving birth to mutant calves and passive cows were turning crazy. He was the one that started the whole thing off.
Rob Billot was primarily a defence lawyer. One that looked after big firms. In fact Dupont was one of his clients, so he actually became a turncoat. But he and the senior partner were so morally outraged their firm decided to spearhead a class action against Dupont.
It took years and years and endless set backs. Not to mention a huge toll on his personal life.
This an unusual film for Todd Haynes. If I'd heard Todd Haynes was doing a legal drama about non-stick cookware, I'd have presumed it'd be about a gay lawyer, who meets an attractive but unavailable, shop assistant whilst shopping for a frying pan: and the legal action would be secondary.
But this is a legal drama rather like Erin Brokovitch or A Civil Action. There actually isn't too much focus on his personal life - it's prominent, but it's not the lynchpin of the drama.
Todd Haynes has been respectful of his subject matter. In this true story people have died prematurely, women have lost their children, babies have been born deformed, lives have been ruined. It would have been wrong if the focus was on anything other than the main action (pun intended).
It has fine acting, distressing details, and is a tightly directed film.
And I'm guessing it won't be doing much for the sales of non-stick cookware.
I pretty well did the same thing when I got home.
I'm throwing out my non-stick cookware and never buying another one.
The thing about pre-2015 non stick cookware (Teflon) is that it has a content known as PFOA, which is fine if locked away, but it can get out when the pan overheats or deteriorates (and mine are falling apart). And as for overheating (burning), let's not even talk about that.
Worse still, is the way Teflon is/was manufactured - and that's really what this story is about.
 |
| This lawyer asks, "So..what's cooking?" |
Meanwhile, downstream, a farmer was losing his livestock. His cattle were giving birth to mutant calves and passive cows were turning crazy. He was the one that started the whole thing off.
Rob Billot was primarily a defence lawyer. One that looked after big firms. In fact Dupont was one of his clients, so he actually became a turncoat. But he and the senior partner were so morally outraged their firm decided to spearhead a class action against Dupont.
It took years and years and endless set backs. Not to mention a huge toll on his personal life.
This an unusual film for Todd Haynes. If I'd heard Todd Haynes was doing a legal drama about non-stick cookware, I'd have presumed it'd be about a gay lawyer, who meets an attractive but unavailable, shop assistant whilst shopping for a frying pan: and the legal action would be secondary.
But this is a legal drama rather like Erin Brokovitch or A Civil Action. There actually isn't too much focus on his personal life - it's prominent, but it's not the lynchpin of the drama.
Todd Haynes has been respectful of his subject matter. In this true story people have died prematurely, women have lost their children, babies have been born deformed, lives have been ruined. It would have been wrong if the focus was on anything other than the main action (pun intended).
It has fine acting, distressing details, and is a tightly directed film.
And I'm guessing it won't be doing much for the sales of non-stick cookware.
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