A Mother Who Fights for What she Believes In

Rating: 10/10 (20 September 2010)

Erin Brockovich is a film based on the legal wranglings headed by Erin Brockovich representing residents of a California town against Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E). Erin Brockovich (Julia Roberts) is a down on her luck former beauty pageant winner who is a twice divorced mother of three small children. She is trying her best to find a job and put food on the table when she is involved in an automobile accident. Erin hires Ed Masry (Albert Finney) to represent her in her lawsuit against the other driver. Because of her scantily clad wardrobe and smart mouth she doesn't win the lawsuit but she is able to win a job in Ed's law firm.
The first big assignment Erin is assigned is researching a pro bono real estate case. Erin stumbles across medical records in file and begins to dig deeper into the situation as to what the significance of medical records are in a real estate file. She finds out that PG&E has been illegally dumping a very toxic chemical into the town's water system. PG&E had been secretly trying to buy all of the real estate surrounding their plant. Erin ends up meeting numerous people who had become ill because of the contamination. This leads to one of the largest lawsuits against a corporation and ended with a record $333 million reward. Although things work out in the end for Erin, she researches and fights this battle for two years. Missing out on milestones that her own children attain and possibly sabotaging a good relationship.
The movie was nominated for over 40 awards in 2000 and 2001, wining approximately half of them. Julia Roberts gave one of her best performances to date playing the sympathetic law firm employee who had the clients' best interest at heart. She was adamant that these citizens needed to be compensated for the lifelong health problems they now have because of the carelessness of a PG&E. The movie shows that there are people who are willing to fight for the rights of others even if their own life is briefly interrupted to do so.
Both the lighting and angles give this movie a warm feeling and help you feel like you personally know the characters and the problems they are going through. You can't help but feel sorry for them when you hear their stories and be happy when they finally win their case.
If you like movies with the same theme as Erin Brockovich, which is helping others, you may also like A Time to Kill (1996) about a lawyer who puts his family life on hold and in danger to represent an accused murderer. As well as Patch Adams (1998) about a doctor who only wants to help his patients any way necessary much to the dislike of his colleagues.