Review | Dark Waters film review: Mark Ruffalo shines as whistle-blowing lawyer in Todd Haynes’ engrossing portrait of a true American hero
- Whistle-blower drama, in the same vein as All the President’s Men and The Insider, is based on real events surrounding the DuPont scandal of toxins in Teflon
- Ruffalo skilfully portrays lawyer Robert Bilott as a quiet man who shows his caring nature by his actions in the case against the corporate giant
4.5/5 stars
This engrossing legal thriller marks a departure for Todd Haynes – whose off-kilter Bob Dylan biopic I’m Not There won wide praise – as it’s a straight-ahead whistle-blower drama in the vein of All the President’s Men and The Insider. The director has generally been interested in the psychology of his characters and the way their inner lives can be used as metaphors for the world that surrounds them. But here he finds the most direct way to present the story.
Based closely on true events, Dark Waters is a powerful and socially conscious drama which serves as encouragement for all those who are battling against seemingly unsurmountable forces to change society for the better.
Robert Bilott (Mark Ruffalo) is a corporate lawyer who takes on a lawsuit against chemical giant DuPont when a farmer friend of his grandmother turns up uninvited in the office of his city law firm. As Bilott – who usually defends big chemical corporations rather than sues them – digs deeper, he is horrified to find that run-off from a DuPont chemical dumping ground has poisoned the farmer’s cows.
Bilott discovers that the chemical PFOA (perfluorooctanoic acid) – which was used to make the non-stick material Teflon – is also present in the town’s water supply and has been responsible for birth defects and cancer in humans. The investigation widens out when Bilott realises that Teflon, which had been used in pots and pans all over America, can pass on the poisonous chemical to users during cooking.