DARK WATERS (2019) – Review

Summer’s not the only season where heroes rule the multiplex. Well, that’s the main time for the fictional, larger than life heroes, the super spies, super cops, and, well, superheroes. But after Fall began the real-life heroes started to arrive, usually the subject of the big end of the year awards contenders. First to make her mark was Harriet Tubman in her inspiring biographical slice of history. Then there were the countless military men and women, from generals to sailors (and their wives) in MIDWAY. As we near the major holidays, we’ve seen more recent heroes, like Dan Jones played by Adam Driver in THE REPORT. Now comes a crusader from a profession generally derided and scorned by the public (especially in this weekend’s MARRIAGE STORY), a lawyer. Ah, but he’s got the spirit of an Avenger, apropos since he’s played by one of the original sextet. But rather than facing off against a scaly beast, he stands his ground against a near-invincible corporate behemoth. And to think this decades-long battle began with a tiny vial filled with deadly DARK WATERS.

After a foreboding flashback (it could’ve been lifted from any of the late 70’s “slash n’ hack” teen flicks), we meet an unassuming corporate lawyer named Robert Bilott (Mark Ruffalo), a briefcase-carrying cog in a Cincinnati legal firm. One day, the receptionist pulls him out of a big meeting because a farmer friend of his West Virginia-based grandma, Wilbur Tennant (Bill Camp), has made the trip to the city (seems Robert wasn’t returning his calls fast enough). Tennant believes that the nearby DuPont factory is poisoning his crops and livestock (they maintain a landfill in his brother’s former property), and leaves lots of photos and samples (soil and water) as proof. But this seems out of Bilott’s expertise since he ‘s usually defending big companies. After consulting his wife, Sarah (Anne Hathaway), a lawyer now taking care of him and their kids at home, Robert makes the trek to Parkersburg, West Virginia, and the Tennant farm. There he’s shocked by the multitude of cattle graves, along with the strange behavior of the remaining farm animals, and the diseased cattle organs kept in the freezer. After some persuasion, Robert’s boss, senior partner Tom (Tim Robbins) gives the okay to formally request files and records from DuPont. After much stalling, the boxes finally arrive. And keep on (and on) arriving until Robert is nearly buried in undecipherable paperwork. Can he fight the chemical company with bottomless pockets, along with the “push-back” from his colleagues who believe this litigation will turn away other big business clients, and prove, without a doubt, that they were, indeed, knowingly poisoning the little town and its residents, and perhaps everyone in the world who has used their “product”?

Ruffalo is far from the muscular green goliath, the Hulk, as this very down to Earth seeker of truth (he could’ve used those Gamma-ray biceps in lifting all those research boxes). Like his role in SPOTLIGHT, he tries to “blend in”, and not call attention to himself. This makes the sequence on the farm even more powerful as Robert gets “woke” and summons his courage to charge at the chemical “dragon”. But resolve takes its toll, and Ruffalo shows it in his body language, “slumping” down and taking heavy steps, that this mission is a long one. Particularly in the film’s last act, the exhaustion makes him more withdrawn as it literally chips away at his health and marriage. He seems to only be energized by paranoia, especially in one taut sequence in a parking garage (nearly always a place of movie doom, like those 24-hour desert gas stations) as he hesitates to turn that key (much like a similar scene recently in THE IRISHMAN). Ruffalo is ably supported by Hathaway who turns the typical “working wife at home” character into a gutsy partner, summoning her inner “She-Hulk” when confronting Tom after a health crisis. He, as played by the terrific Robbins, is an original take on the powerful, but often aloof, supervisor. In his first scenes with Robert, Tom is the “bottom-line” guy, questioning his motives and evidence. Then comes the big boardroom showdown, as he watches his co-workers and partners “dog pile” Robert, Robbins becomes a protective lion, surprising the other lawyers while delighting and stunning all who thought they knew this man. Camp is a growling pit bull as Tenant, who may not have the “book smarts” but will defend his home with his last breath. Also of note is usual film and TV “nice guy” Victor Garber as the affable DuPont exec who abruptly morphs into a hissing, spitting cobra when approached by Robert at a fancy function. Plus we get great work from Bill Pullman as the folksy, “low key” with lightning instincts (think Atticus Finch and Matlock) hometown lawyer, and Mare Winningham (been a long time, former “brat-packer”) as the local housewife who may have suffered the biggest loss, one sadly shared by many of the village residents.

This film also marks a big change, or maybe “out of his comfort zone”, for director Todd Haynes, whose resume’ has included several lush, retro-inspired romances like CAROL and FAR FROM HEAVEN. He’s knee-deep (literally) in grim and gritty down-home drama where truly horrible things happen to good “salt of the Earth” people. Sure, there are moments of hope, but Haynes also delivers a couple of scenes of nail-biting terror. Aside from the aforementioned garage sequence, there’s an eerie early moment when Robert gets a too close for comfort look at the crime when delirious bovine staggers out. Whether it was puppetry or CGI, or a combination, this was one of the scariest sequences of the film year. Kudos also to the script by Matthew Michael Carnahan and Mario Correa based on the New York Times article by Nathaniel Rich, “The Lawyer Who Became DuPont’s Worst Nightmare” for never condescending to the farm folk (Tenant has a hard-shelled dignity), and for presenting a real married couple who are true partners. Many may think this story to be a male spin on ERIN BROCKOVICH, but there’s no zany outfits (Ruffalo does rock a dark three-piece-suit) or romantic subplots or lovable ole’ bosses. It is dark, often in the extreme as it’s hard to make out the action even in the fluorescent-lit offices. And the pace loses some of its momentum as it inches towards a densely packed resolution montage. But these are minor quibbles as it delivers a message that is echoed in the current news cycle. While many deride the truth-seekers as unpatriotic and even criminal, this work reminds us that honesty still matters, and “blowing the whistle” on evil is truly noble. The world could use a lot more people like the Bilotts. And the multiplex can stand to have a few more inspiring docudramas like DARK WATERS.

3.5 Out of 4

DARK WATERS opens everywhere and screens exclusively in the St. Louis area at Landmark’s Plaza Frontenac Cinemas