ERIN BROCKOVICH: Blu-ray (Universal 2000) Universal Home Video
“She
brought a big corporation to its knees, and small town to its feet!” So read publicity
campaigns for Steven Soderbergh’s Erin Brockovich (2000); a superior corporate
cover-up melodrama told from the unlikely perspective of an even more
improbable heroine. This semi-biographical film transformed a relatively unknown
legal researcher into one of the most widely recognizable crusaders for
people’s rights. In life, as on film, the real Erin Brockovich is a sassy,
outspoken free thinker, unrepentantly gutsy/unapologetically candid, with a
penchant for ruffling a few feathers to get to the truth. What Susannah Grant’s
screenplay does remarkably well is it refrains from simplifying this
larger-than-life powerhouse into a smart-mouthed, broad-minded ‘broad’ of a
movie caricature. Of course, only half the credit for keeping Erin Brockovich
real can go to Grant’s writing. The other half belongs to actress, Julia
Roberts – the last truly memorable star to emerge from the 20th
century.
Julia Roberts, who began
her career by almost freak accident (visiting her brother Eric on the Paramount
back lot, only to be ‘discovered’ and remade a star ten times his calibre in
popularity in a string of megawatt hits) has often been unfairly assessed by
the critics as ‘lacking range’. While it must be stated that Roberts often
plays variations on a theme - the wholesome girl next door lurking just beneath
the more obvious trappings of a Hollywood hooker or homespun debutant suffering
from a fatal kidney condition – she nevertheless manages to imprint each
performance with her own inimitable charm. This radiates genuine warmth and is
able to instinctively connect with her audience from beyond those wide-innocent
eyes and beaming, garage door sized pearly white smile.
But in Erin Brockovich we get a different Julia than we’re accustom to; a
sort of ‘other side of the rainbow’, fractured and fragile mother of three,
frustratingly refusing to satisfy her overwhelming detractors by giving in. Our
story begins in the summer of 1993 after a perilous auto accident leaves Erin
(Julia Roberts) temporarily incapacitated with a neck brace. Erin sues the driver of the other car, a
doctor (Jack Gill) no less, and is represented at trial by Edward L. Masry
(Albert Finney) who fumbles the ball and loses her case.
Having also lost her job,
Erin’s attempts to find suitable employment prove fruitless. In desperation she
shows up at the modest law offices of Masry and Vititoe, begging Ed to hire her
on as a secretary. Begrudgingly he agrees, stipulating ‘no benefits’. At the
office Erin’s ‘suggestive’ wardrobe quietly incurs a frosty reception from the
other secretaries, and Brenda (Conchata Ferrell), the portly office manager.
While performing mundane
filing duties Erin encounters a case file involving one Donna Jensen (Marg
Helgenberger). It’s a pro bono real estate deal for a backwater flat in Hinkley
California. But there are also medical files tucked into the folder. Inquiring
to Ed if she can ‘look into’ the
particulars of Donna Jensen’s case – and casually encouraged to do so – Erin
takes off to visit Donna and her family at their home. What she learns is that
a nearby processing plant owned by Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) has been
using hexavalent chromium to flush out its pipes, thereby creating a known
carcinogenetic environment in Hinkley that has already begun to poison its
residents.
In the meantime, Erin also
begins a rather tempestuous relationship with her new next door neighbour,
biker George (Erin Eckhart) who inadvertently incurs Erin’s wrath after revving
his motorcycle late one evening in his garage. However, when Erin’s research
forces her to spend more time away from her kids, George takes over as
babysitter/surrogate father figure to her children, Beth (Emily/Julie Marks),
Matthew (Scotty Leavenworth) and Katie (Gemmenne de la Pena).
Erin double-checks her
facts about hexavalent chromium with university adjunct processor Brian Frankel
(Randy Lowell). She also employs her wily charms on Scott (Jamie Harrold), a
nimble-minded spineless desk jockey at the local Water Commission, in order to
gain access to the file room where she quietly Xeroxes various crucial
documents outlining complicity between the water commission and PG&E.
However, upon returning to the office, Erin discovers that Ed has fired her for
failing to report in to work regularly. After a brief altercation Erin goes
home, leaving her research on Ed’s desk.
An apologetic Ed shows up
at Erin’s home to inform her that there just might be a case against PG&E.
He hires her back – with benefits – and Erin begins to gather support amongst
Hinkley’s residents to pursue a class action suit against the company. PG&E
send their new bee legal representative (T.J. Thyne) to make a pathetic offer
on behalf of the company if Masry and Vititoe will just quietly forget about
the case. But Ed and Erin make short order of him. They have no intention of
letting things go.
Erin visits the home of Ted
(Wade Williams) and Rita Daniels (Cordelia Richards), whose daughter, Annabelle
(Kristina Malota) is gravely ill and dying of cancer. Annabelle’s medical bills
were handled by PG&E whose doctor lied to the Daniels about the true cause
of her malady. Meanwhile Ed has hired Theresa Dallavalle (Veanne Cox) and Kurt
Potter (Peter Coyote); a pair of high priced legal beagles to headline the
case. To Erin it seems as though Ed has sold out all her hard work. She
admonishes him for his lack of faith, creating a rift in their partnership.
At a bar outside of Hinkley
Erin runs into Charles Embry (Tracey Walter), a mysterious man who has been
following her all day. He tells Erin he worked at PG&E and was responsible
for destroying hundreds of documents at their request. However, after Charles
learned that the medical conditions plaguing workers at the plant were the
direct result of hexavalent chromium leaking through PG&E’s unlined storage
ponds he refused to partake in any further involvement eradicating the
company’s spurious history.
PG&E sends its own pair
of high priced attorneys (Don Snell, Michael Shamberg), plus one of the
company’s representatives, Ms. Sanchez (Gina Gallego) to challenge Ed and
Erin’s claim. But Erin has uncovered a secret memo dating all the way back to
1966 that proves PG&E knew they were deliberately contaminating the waters
while doing their utmost to cover up or disavow any direct knowledge if
questioned about it. This evidence is presented at trial and PG&E are
ordered to pay $333 million equally dispersed amongst the 634 plaintiffs that
signed Ed and Erin’s petition.
Erin returns to Donna
Jensen’s home with Ed where she presents her with a personal cheque that leads
to tears of joy. The next day, Erin and Ed are seen moving the entire law firm
into fancy new digs uptown. Ed tells Erin that he has decided to alter their
original agreement. At first Erin perceives this to mean he has reduced her
pay, and thoroughly admonishes Ed for his skinflint ways. However, when Ed
presents Erin with a paystub for a million dollars she becomes utterly
speechless, the sum obviously much more than they had originally agreed upon. “Do they teach beauty queens how to say
thank you?” Ed playfully asks, “Because
you suck at it!”
Erin
Brockovich
is stand-up-and-cheer, out and out feel good entertainment in the best
tradition. Julia Roberts manages a delicate balancing act between her usual
pluckiness and the real Brockovich’s more overt disregard for the niceties. Yet
even at her most gregariously foul, as when Erin shouts down office manager
Brenda with “Oh bite me, Krispy Kreme,”
and a few seconds later with “I’m not
talkin’ to you, bitch!” we cannot help but feel a sense of sympathetic - if
comedic - vindication for the character. Roberts gives us a portrait of this ‘mad as hell and not going to take it
anymore’ female whose surface veneer is as rough as sandpaper, but with an
extremely vulnerable center.
There’s a palpable
love/hate quality to the relationship between Erin and Ed. Albert Finney – an
actor I’ve long admired as one of the finest of any generation – is a loveable
curmudgeon herein. In some respects, his Ed Masry is a kindred spirit to
Roberts’ Erin, who gets under his skin perhaps because he can see so much of
his old crusty self in her defiance towards him.
I can’t say I’m a
particular fan of Ed Lachman’s cinematography, with its advanced graininess and
blown out contrast levels used to achieve a sort of parchment paper/desert
quality to the southern California landscape. I suppose it works in service of
the story, but occasionally it can be distracting on the eye. Thomas Newman’s
underscoring does a nice quirky job of elevating the inquisitive mood that
permeates the film’s investigative plot. All in all, this is a solid,
intelligently written and poignantly acted movie that will surely delight and
educate. Bottom line: Erin Brockovich
is a winner.
Universal’s Blu-ray is
pretty spectacular, though not without a few minor flaws. Long ago, Erin Brockovich was released on the now
defunct HD DVD format. The transfers are remarkably similar, but the Blu-ray
tightens up for a sharper image that maintains the starkness in Ed Lachman’s
stylized cinematography. Detail is very strong as are black levels. There are
no edge effects or halos, but at times the image can look more video than
film-like, but that’s a very minor quibbling as far as I’m concerned. Colours
pop.
Thomas Newman’s synthesized
score gets its due in this new DTS 5.1 audio mix. Dialogue sounds fantastic and
effects in the folio are made more prominent though not in an artificial or
distracting way. Good solid effort from Universal that deserves our attention
and hard earned dollars. Buy this Blu-ray! It’s a keeper.
FILM RATING (out of 5 - 5 being the best)
4
VIDEO/AUDIO
4
EXTRAS
2
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