A Real woman. A real story. A real triumph!

Rating: 10/10 (18 November 2000)

What more can I say about Erin Brockovich, it was superb. In real life she is a truly remarkable woman and on-screen, Roberts really made me believe that she was Brockovich in a way.
In my opinion, this is Julia Roberts' best role. Roles in such movies as Pretty Woman, Notting Hill and Runaway Bride don't match this one.
Erin Brockovich brought out the true talent which movie lovers know Roberts has. She acted it perfectly. Being stubborn, hard-working, aggressive emotional and caring, traits I'm sure the real Brockovich has.

The story of this movie concentrates on Erin Brockovich, who has 3 kids, divorced twice and a $17,000 debt after she loses her court case after a car accident. So Erin looks and applies for a heaps of jobs, until she goes back to the lawyer who was representing her in court and begs for a job. After she is finally given a go, Erin searches into a small towns health crisis and brings a billion dollar company to its knees.
The case that made Brockovich so famous was about a processing plant called PG+E which contaminated the water of a small town called Hinkley. The water supply was contaminated with Hexavalent Chromium, which can cause many terrible health problems, including Headaches, Nose Bleeds, cancers (of numerous kinds), liver, heart and reproductive failure, organ deterioration and in bad cases death. So Brockovich, with no legal experience took on the case for the people of Hinkley and helped them win. In a way it was David taking on Goliath. I also loved the relationship between Erin and her boss Ed Masry. They treated each other with low regard, but in the end respected each other for who they were. Ed was played by Albert Finney and was well done.
One part of the film I can understand people not liking is the relationship between Erin and bikie boyfriend George. It was destined never to work as Erin was focusing more on her work for the case and not him. Maybe he was an unwanted character, but then again I saw George to be a kind man who helped Erin in her greatest time of need. Then we also see that Erin puts her kids needs behind to help others. Erin loved her kids, but her sense of justice meant her family life had to suffer.
There are some memorable quotes in Erin Brockovich, here are a few of my favorites:
`How Â‘bout this for a number. 6, is the age of my daughter, 8 is the age of son, 2 is the number of times I have been divorced and 16 is the number of dollars in my bank account.'
`That's all you got, lady. Two wrong feet. In f.....g ugly shoes.'
`They're called boobs, Ed.'
`Seeing as how I have no brains or legal expertise, I just went out there and performed sexual favors. Six hundred and thirty-four blow jobs in five days... I'm really quite tired.'
`Not personal? That's my work in there. My Sweat, my time away from my kids..... if that's not personal, I don't know what is.'
For those who have the facilities to watch DVDs, Erin Brockovich should be at the top of your list, with an impressive amount of special features including a report with Erin Brockovich herself (by the way look out for the real Brockovich in the movie) and half an hour of deleted scenes, which were interesting to see.
All in all, I hated the case and the pain those people had to endure, but I loved the way this true story was bought to the bigscreen. The courage of a single mother who felt so passionately about people who she had no ties with and wanted to see them have a new chance in life is truly inspirational.

Rating: 5 Stars or 10/10.