Erin the Heroine

Rating: 10/10 (9 August 2005)

Erin Brockovich [2000] with Julia Roberts in one of her most stellar roles.
Erin the Heroine
Erin shows two main things: a. the persistence of a way of being in the world; b. how surface characteristics quickly change as the structure of the person's external world changes. Erin grew up as a small town beauty queen feeling like she was 'somebody', confident, spontaneous, in command, and had a birthright to win in games of one-up-man-ship. After two failed marriages, she realizes the cultural stereotype of marriage is stacked against women. She won't have any more of it. Now, after repeatedly being devastated by the ravages of a male dominant society, alone and penniless with children to support, she is up against that wall of bias against women again.
In the middle of her current gloomy circumstances, she decides that this time she is going to go at it like a she-bear with cubs. Like competitive men who take a no holds barred approach to life, her inner resolve is saying, "Everybody better look out, here comes the old, bold, Erin". She finally scraps her way into a penny ante, food on the table, job.
In her new, menial job in a small law firm, her implicit, strong, trust in her fortitude, intelligence, and judgment causes her mind to pause during the perusal of some legal gibberish. She notes an odd and incongruous conjunction in the information. With her revived naturally spontaneous and assertive self, she seeks validation of her suspicions of a cover-up conspiracy by visiting the actual defendants sited in the report. However, she finds the victims hostile to outsiders and oddly beholden and loyal to their corporate patrons. Rallying another side to her earlier resourcefulness and maturity she confronts the diffident victims with compassion, empathy, and humble eye-to-eye persuasiveness. This opens all the doors to the hearts of these fearful employees in this closed, ravaged, and emotionally depleted corporately sustained community. Her approach turns out to be a knockout combination of punches and she gains their confidence in her.
Soon, her own life circumstances begin changing. As a male admirer enters her life, she holds him at bay while she thoroughly tests him. She hesitates because she does not want a repeat performance of her former relationships with men. When he proves to be genuinely supportive and kind, she finally, but gingerly, allows him into her life. He is truly helpful and patient, especially with her children. She feels the gods must be promoting a happy serendipity since this is just what she needs to give her the backup necessary for her to unleash her enormous but dormant combination of talents.
As she succeeds with what has become a huge lawsuit over lethal damage caused by the pollution the corporation had been successfully covering up, the head of the small law firm calls in big legal guns to take over the case. In a conflict of her two most dominant traits, not to be bested by anyone and a level-headed maturity, the latter wins out. In a verbal contest with one of the legal experts brought to help insure their victory, she clearly demonstrates that she is not a woman to be discounted, regardless of the fact that the experts' credentials outclass her. She concedes that the experts should be allowed their role in the case, but she is remains the incumbent. Like a bull dog with its teeth sunk in a bone she will not relinquish her hold on 'her' case to the 'interlopers'. She proves to be as formidable as a gladiator when it comes to being a mental and verbal combatant, whether she is an expert in legalese or not.
Erin's force-of-nature demeanor crashes through the legal establishment's protocol and causes enough dislodging of their composure to interrupt the judicial monotony. Her unconventional, countervailing mode-of-procedure forces the court to weigh the case on its inherent merit and overrides usual imbalance of powers favoring top-dollar law firms and rich corporations that typically holds-court!
The injection of Erin the she-bear into the intransigent legal culture became the catalyst that cracked the defense and won the day for all of the exploited underdogs she so heartily and gallantly championed and for Erin, herself, as well. The citizens she victoriously fought for feel their esteem rise along with their 'Erin the hero'.
Women of the world, take heart. When a fortuitous crack opens in the masculine wall within structure of the world, be ready with your marching boots to charge through it!