Dark Waters

This is a film that reminds the viewer of Erin Brockovitch, in which the a woman learned Law in order to take on the people who were polluting the local water supply. This is that, but it’s a different kind of David And Goliath story in that the protagonist is a corporate lawyer for a firm that’s trying to win as a client the very company that it’s going to have to sue.

Rob Billot (Mark Ruffalo) is that lawyer. Happily married to Sarah (Anne Hathaway), and happily working for a firm with Tom Terp (Tim Robbins) as his boss, he is contacted by someone who knows his grandmother. The farmer descends on Rob’s office with boxes of videotapes, and although Billot doesn’t really want to get into it, once he takes a cursory look he realises that he can’t let it go.

The story is fairly tragic and is all based on true events. To say that your teflon frying pan “is killing you” is a crass summary of the situation, because what the film is about is how a company (Dupont) has so much influence not only over law but all of local society. Early on Rob drives through a town where Dupont’s name is everywhere. On the other hand the physical evidence that something in the water is killing a farmer’s cows (as well as dying white the stones in the lake). The standard tropes of legal dramas is somewhat subverted, though, because although Sarah does initially doubt her husband, that will change—and the boss is not telling Rob to drop the case at the early stage. It begins with a quick look, but Dupont bombards Rob with about a hundred crates of paperwork, and he goes through the whole lot and puts together his case.

There’s a powerful message here about individual conscience, and for standing up for what is right—something that is very much a part of legal dramas. But the law in reality seldom results in an air-punching victory followed by happily ever after… There are ups and downs, and they are each individually fought on both sides in a war of attrition through paperwork and research rather than something more dramatic. And although there’s plenty of tension in this, you have to really dig in and believe in Rob Billot in order to get behind the film. When a company permeates your life and you find that it’s being so egregiously awful, it takes a certain type of grit to stand apart from it, and even more to fight your corner against it. One scene features a roomful of lawyers discussing whether the case is good for them or not, this already with the knowledge of what is happening to people who’re being poisoned. Lawyers can separate themselves from the facts of their cases, and people whose lives are comfortable thanks to Dupont will get angry if you say that their company is killing people. There are so many people who have no reason to be evil, but who will stand up and be nasty for little good reason instead of standing up for justice.

The film takes its time to tell the story, as if the makers were wanting to do the right thing by the victims. (There’s a moving cameo from someone involved, and it arrives at a time where it couldn’t be more poignant. This is at the end of a film that feels long and is emotionally draining; it’s a film which can show you someone drinking a glass of water and having you think that someone’s going to say “We got that water from the lake…” but there are no such tricks. a water-glass, a drinking fountain, and someone washing their hands are all powerful images. There are some excellent performances: Ruffalo throws off his Marvel persona(s) to deliver a fine performance of a diligent and caring man whose own conscience seems like it’s going to kill him; and Tim Robbins—who seems like a man you’d always go along with—plays the nuance of a man whose mind is changed in a way that seems realistic. Anne Hathaway is terrific in a similar type of moral ‘journey’ and finally Bill Pullman is marvellous as one of Rob's colleagues. Look out too for Victor Garber and 80s stalwart Mare Winningham. There is much to enjoy in this film but it’s overwhelming because it’s so very true.