Review for the film Erin Brockovich.

Rating: Null/10 (16 September 2010)

Erin Brockovich is an inspiring movie about a single mother. The movies theme is that no matter who the opponent a person should stand for what is right. Erin has three children and is jobless and twice divorced and trying to make something of her life and provide a good life for her children. Erin Brockovich, Julie Roberts, is a stay at home mom who has no job skills because of her early marriage and her decision to stay at home with her children while her husband(s) worked and provided for the family. Six years later she is divorced and looking for a job to be able to support her three children.
After being involved in a car accident she hires a small firm lawyer by the name of Ed Masry, Albert Finney, to represent her. The lawsuit does not go as planned and she is back to square one with not job and medical bills piling up from her injuries. She decides that she is going to talk Ed into giving her a job and accomplishes this by demanding that he hire her in front of the entire office. After working for Ed's law firm for a few weeks, Erin stumbles across a real estate case that has medical records in the file and decides to dig deeper.
She discovers a cover-up that a large corporation, PG & E, has been trying to keep quiet while their statute of limitations runs out on their incident. The company had discovered that one of their plants has been leaking large amounts of a toxic chemical into the ground water and it has poisoned a whole town near the plant. PG & E has attempted to cover this up by attempting to purchase all of the land surrounding the plant that is now inhabited by the poisoned individuals. Erin pushes and researches this case. She fights for the people of the town. Ed's law firm takes on a big name partner and the two firms are able to bring a lawsuit against PG & E which is settled for an amount of $333 million. The amount was a national record for a settlement. The settlement is divided amongst the plaintiffs and Ed is able to move his law firm from their tiny little building into a downtown suite because of this case that they spearheaded. Erin fights for the people of the town throughout the film because it was what was right. To help convey the serious nature of the film lighting was vital for this movie. The lighting in the movie is very natural using high-key lighting thus making the film more real. The camera angle used through the majority of the film was medium shot. The medium shot also aided in the serious nature of this film. While the medium angle was used for the majority of the film for the intense debates between Erin and Ed, close-up shots were used to show the emotional responses of the characters (Boggs, 2008).
A film with a similar theme is Legally Blonde. Even though these films handle their stories very differently in the end the themes are very similar. Both of the films focus on a woman who goes against the odds to take on a difficult challenge. They both take on the challenge because it is what is morally right and they will not bend. Both of the main characters are continually underestimated by people given their image and both prove them wrong.
Resources Boggs, J. M. & Petric, D. W. (2008). The art of watching films. (7th ed). New York: McGraw- Hill.
Devito, D., Hardy, J., Lyon, G., Shamberg, C.S., Shamberg, M., Sher, S., (Producers), & Soderbergh, S. (Director). (2000). Erin Brockovich (Motion picture). United States: Jersey Films.
Kidney, R., McLaughlin, C., Nicksay, D., Platt, M. (Producers), & Luketic, R. (Director). (2001). Legally Blonde (Motion picture). United States: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM).