Movie Review

Erin Brockovich
Compiled by Tawsif Saleheen

ALTHOUGH released a long time back, Erin Brockovich still stands as a groundbreaking movie. It tells the story of a single mother who sets out against all odds to make a difference. Directed by Steven Soderbergh, Erin Brockovich tells a familiar David vs. Goliath story, but it's the characters and the performances that really make this movie stand out. Julia Roberts, of course, essentially steals the spotlight from everyone else - she's in virtually every scene - but she's very good here. She's taken her ingratiating persona and flipped it. She's still ingratiating, but now she's using it to her advantage. For example in a scene where she flirts with a clerk to gain access to classified files it's hard to imagine another actress pulling this off without appearing sleazy. When Julia Roberts does it, it's endearing.

The most amazing thing about the movie is that, its based on a true story. In fact the real Erin has a cameo in the movie as a waitress named Julia. As written by Susannah Grant (Ever After and 28 Days), Erin is brassy, determined, full of love for her three kids and wary of everyone else; the character is perfectly suited to Roberts' strengths, and she plays Erin as a frazzled, ordinary woman with a knack for cutting to the point. No cutie-pie, Erin is a sharp, angular person -- an irresistible force that doesn't believe in immovable objects.

After managing to find work at a California law firm, Erin starts to discover odd things in routine real-estate files: medical records that don't seem to belong there. She soon learns that a local plant, Pacific Gas & Electric, has been contaminating the water with chromium and has been trying to buy off the locals. With the initially grudging help of her boss, Ed Masry (Albert Finney), Erin digs deeper and tries to rally the townspeople in a lawsuit against the corporation. Through Erin Brockovich Soderbergh depicts the selfless determination of a mother and the strength that is associated to it.

Source: Internet