Movie Review-Erin Brockovich

Erin Brockovich, a 2000 Jersy Film Production, staring Julia Roberts is based on a true story that involved Pacific Gas and Electric Company using hexavalent chromium or chromium six as a rust inhibitor to prevent corrosion of pistons used in engines. According to the movie, for fourteen years, the Pacific Gas and Electric Company had been dumping water containing chromium six into ponds and covering them over. The ponds were not lined and the chromium based water leaked into the local water supply exposing residents of Hinkley, California to chromium six. Repeated exposure to hexavalent chromium causes chronic headaches, cancer, nose bleeds, bone and organ deterioration, respiratory failure, liver failure, heart failure, bone or organ deterioration and it gets into your DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) and diseases can be passed onto your children and it can affect any type of reproduction. The legal limit for chromium six is .05 parts per million. The entire film shows the power that big corporations have over us as American citizens and how their interest in making a profit is more important that human life.

Leaving a job interview, Erin is struck in the side by a speeding vehicle. Injured and hurting, she finds herself in the office of Lawyer Ed Masry, played by Albert Finney, filing suit against the speeding driver for her injuries. Mr. Masry assures Erin that they have a good chance of winning the lawsuit. When Erin is on the witness stand, the defense attorneys says that she must have been desperate with three kids, no job and two ex-husbands that the emergency room doctor looked pretty promising.

Loosing the case, she is again looking for a job to support her family. Ed Masry is nearly forced to hire Erin when confronted about a job before his entire staff. Erin's office work leads her to investigate a pro-bono real estate case where Pacific Gas and Electric is trying to purchase the Jensen's property that is located near the Hinkley facility for an interstate off ramp. Finding medical records among the information in this real estate file provokes Erin's investigation into the case. Numerous medical problems suffered by the Jensen family were later determined effects of exposure to chromium six in their water supply. Mrs. Jensen advised Erin that the doctor visits, paid for by Pacific Gas and Electric, determined that one thing had nothing to do with the other. In other words, their ailments had nothing to do with possible exposure to chromium six. Pacific Gas and Electric also had the Jensen's water tested and told them it was fine.

Erin's investigation determines that the Pacific Gas and Electric Company, a 28 billion dollar corporation, had knowledge and documentation as early as 1966 that water samples contained chromium six. One company employee was asked to shred such documentation as the readings from the test wells and holding ponds. The Hinkley Water Company held documentation of a clean-up and abatement order for the site and legal documentation that there was a contamination site one mile north in the community of Hinkley. They also had written documentation that the water samples contained .58 parts per million and that this could be responsible for various illnesses. A Hinkley Water Company employee provided information to the Pacific Gas and Electric Company that Erin was snooping around the water company asking questions about their facility. Erin soon began to receive threatening phone calls. One would assume he was paid off by Pacific Gas and Electric.

Pacific Gas and Electric's claims manager met with Lawyer Masry offering $250,000 for the Jensen home and when Lawyer Masry introduced the subject of all the illnesses the Jensen's were suffering, the claims manager threatened Lawyer Masry telling him remember who you are dealing with and stated "we are a 28 billion dollar corporation."

During the legal proceedings it was determined that Pacific Gas and Electric's had knowledge that chromium six was in the water supplies, that they knew it was poisoning people and lied about it. They had even presented a seminar to the community and gave out pamphlets advising the residents that chromium three was good for them. They did this to establish a statue of limitations, the community would have one year from the time they first learned of the problem to file suit and if Pacific Gas and Electric could ride out the year with no one suing, they would legally be in the clear forever. The citizens of Hinkley were awarded $333 million. The Jensen's receiving $5 million of it. A total of six hundred thirty-four cases, which was the largest direct-action law suit in the United States history.

Wealth was not the only source of power used in this movie. There was corporate power, intimidation, desperation, persuasion, compassion and finally the power to do what is morally right. Desperation is the first source of power that comes onto the scene of Erin Brockovich. We see Erin, interviewing for jobs, getting into a beater car and then a terrible car accident thanks to a speeding emergency room doctor in a jaguar. After her lawyer falls thru in court and she walks away from the accident penniless, the desperation to put food on the table for her three kids and pay the rent gets her a job at her lawyers office. By no means did he want to hire her, but she was desperate and stubborn and refused to leave until he agreed to hire her. Once hired, she starts compiling the casework for the Jensen's and thus tumbles onto the mysterious findings of the medical records and begins to investigate.

The power of persuasion is seen throughout the entire movie, and is source of power is best portrayed by Erin Brockovich and her sassy, sleazy and more importantly, down-to-earth approach with people. She was able to get into the water district's files by wearing a mini skirt and showing off her cleavage. She was also able to get people to talk to her about their medical problems and convince them to hire Masry as their lawyer. She was probably the only person capable of getting the citizens of Hinkley to all sign the binding arbitration agreement which was necessary to get the case into court and decided. Her power of persuasion with people evident as the lawyers continued to fall on their faces when it came to dealing with the clients. Without her, there is no way this case could have been stirred up as it did and finally resolved in the manner with which it was.

There was, of course, the corporate power and intimidation at work in the movie. Erin received a creepy phone call from someone telling her to stay off the case, as well as the intimidation shown through the Pacific Gas and Electric's lawyers.