Rather an enthralling film covering a woman on the brink, effectively covering her aiding the victimised and then coping with her own life.

Rating: 8/10 (30 September 2010)

Erin Brokovich is the remarkable true story of a beauty pageant contestant turned legal expert whom very gradually uncovered levels of corruption within a California based power company. One of the many joys of the film lies in how director Steven Soderbergh takes what should be the ultimate tale of a character or person well out of their depth and integrates them into their new surroundings so much so, that it turns out they are both infinitely more qualified and more able in dealing with the situation than some of their contemporaries. The film has all the charge and dramatic punch of a scuzzy, hard boiled revenge film as it covers an enraged lead on a mission in which no one will get in their way; its Conservitive core isn't heavy handed and the film's documentation of a tale dominated by themes of female empowerment is, pleasingly, never for a second interested in the objectification of its lead, despite the field from whence they herald and despite their more usual attire. One of the key exchanges highlighting the lead's newfound sense of identity within the world of law and investigation sees her speak to some of the victims of a power company's leak of some toxins into the local water supply, an event which happened some years ago. The child of the family can speak to our lead, they can speak to her in a way that they couldn't when a suit-clad, official, law degree wielding individual would come round to visit. The fish is most certainly out of the water but finding life easier and more digestible up on dry land, it seems.
It is Julia Roberts playing American jobber turned beauty pageant competitor Erin Brockovich, the divorced single mother of three children striving to get by after a car accident and the loss of a consequential lawsuit leaves her with seventy-five dollars left. One of the very first instances we have of Brockovich engaging in official office-talk in a strictly business-like fashion is when dialogue with a doctor plays out, his background out of a nearby window occupied by tall, domineering buildings with a lone empty alcohol bottle occupying the space immediately behind Erin as suggestions of dishevelment draw in. While Brockovich herself was never an alcoholic, subtle props placed to reflect a respective situation work well; this early defeat aiding in getting across a sense of magnitude later on when we realise how far she's gone in taking on the nature of situations such as these and the officials at the core of these predicaments.
Erin is supported by her lawyer Ed Masry (Finney), a man whom grants her a job at his small law firm when an outburst in court following the aforementioned car accident and consequent injury sees that particular claim fall through. From the bottom working upwards, the film is a joyous and deeply captivating tale of a woman on a road she had no real idea existed, ploughing onwards towards a hopeful victory. The sense that Brockovich is out of her depth or isn't immediately of the law firm ilk is effectively dealt with early on. Whilst working at the offices, Erin doesn't go to lunch with the other girls because "she's not like the other girls"; her attire and informal mannerisms as she scoots around the office, verbally badgering Masry on occasion puts her in stark contrast to the other woman of the office whom spend most of their time passively occupying a space behind a desk and possessing a thoroughly different overall stature.
Oral and visual confirmations of her respective situation as a person there are behind us by the time the tale has taken centre stage, an uncovering of some menial files which launches Erin into her quest the catalyst. The film is a superb documentation of this case involving injustices to a number of people in a small Californian town named Hinkley, as an electrical company and a water supply occupy the forefront of the case. The film very cleverly has a child take centre stage when Erin visits one of the victimised families, and that sense of the corporation being of an even nastier ilk than to how we may have previously felt, is slyly hit home by the film when it transpires an infant has been severely wronged by these people. On another strand, Erin's private life creeps into proceedings as neighbouring Hell's Angel biker George (Eckhart) becomes somewhat of a love interest, while her children become disenchanted by their mother's full time work; George being another character whom, like the loose, extroverted and former beauty pageant contest entering Erin, is granted a deconstruction of sorts and documented as anything but what prior conceptions we may have of them. It turns out he's good with her children, a kind man and is apologetic during their first encounter when he revs a motorcycle on his driveway too loudly, too late on.
Indeed, the film pokes fun at how it could've used both Brockovich's demeanour and appearance. Allowing the fact this highly attractive woman, whom in usually on show in a vast range of cheap outfits, is at the centre of this really fascinating and humbling story, but only once uses her sexuality or 'to-be-looked-at-ness' as an example of principal involvement. The amusing sequence briefly hands Erin a seductive characteristic when she manages to con her way past a young male desk clerk and into an archival room doubling up as a mine of gold for the prosecution. As the clerk watches The Wheel of Fortune on a television, Erin spins the proverbial whilst somewhat illegally accessing the files she'll need. The film is refreshing and immense fun; Roberts, through her character, capturing a real sense desperation mixed with dedication blended with eccentricity as she soars on integrating with all around her, in what is an unremittingly engaging text based on true tale.