“Erin Brockovich” – Movie Overview
By
Eryn Pilla, Hamilton Onyeukwu & Jennifer Poff
The movie “Erin Brockovich” starring Julia Roberts is loosely based on a true story. In the movie, Roberts plays a sassy single mom who is down on her luck and struggling to provide for her three children. She was involved in a car accident and sued the driver of the other car- a wealthy doctor who she felt deserved the blame for the accident. The lawsuit was spearheaded by her lawyer, Ed Masry who eventually lost the case and caused Brockovich to seek employment from him as compensation and charity.
During her early time as a legal assistant, Brockovich stumbled across a pro bono file containing information about a case Masry was handling in which
…show more content…
In this case, PG&E deceived the entire town of Hinkley by allowing them to believe that their water source was safe. Deception was clearly portrayed throughout the film, with a particularly good example toward the beginning of the movie. The film described how PG&E held a meeting with 200 people from Hinkley to explain the benefits of PG&E using chromium 3 at their plant. Chromium 3 is similar to hexavalent chromium (or chromium 6), however the deception is clear when the film goes on to show that PG&E was not actually using chromium 3 at their plant, and was actually using the harmful chromium 6 instead. Unfortunately, this issue was not resolved in the film as PG&E continued their denial and dishonesty until the very end of the film. This company ended up losing the largest direct-action lawsuit in United States history. In 1996, Brockovich and Masry’s team of legal professionals secured a $333-million-dollar settlement for the 634 residents of Hinkley, California.
References
Erin Brockovich. (2000). In Internet Movie Database.
Retrieved from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0195685/
Soderbergh, S. (Producer), & Grant, S. (Writer). (2000). Erin Brockovich [Motion picture]. United States: Paramount
While they acknowledge that they are dumping a chemical into the tap water, they lie to the residents of Hinkley by telling them that it is a different type of chromium, chromium III, that isn’t dangerous. Lying is the simplest and biggest ethical mistake there can be as it is always intentional and causes harm to the other side who believes what is being said. Not only does PG&E lie about the type of chromium being dumped, they also try to cover it up through various methods. First, they have paid the medical expenses of people in the town as a way to show that they are doing their part to help, when really this is a small expense compared with what the ethical dumping of chromium or an alternate form of chemical would consist of. Secondly, they are bribing the people with large amounts of money to buy their homes and the land they are on, which holds the dangerous chromium. Once again this is a cheaper way to hide their issue compared to the cost of having to fix their practice or losing their company. They even try to give out large amounts of money to stop the case when they know that one is being started against them. The people of Hinkley have trouble seeing past this, because of the good that PG&E does for the community overall with jobs and their economy, etc. This is an issue with Utilitarianism ethics. It is hard to see past what is good overall for the most majority of people and realize the negative effects this overall good is having for some people.
In the movie Erin Brockovich, played by Julia Roberts, is assigned to do some research on pro-bono case her employer Ed
Water Corporations shows negligence, through incorrectly connecting the water to the wrong block. This shows that they did not provide a duty of care, and attention to skill in identifying the correct location of the block of land before establishing a water line.
In the documentary the director go to a town in Pennsylvania called Dimock. Where some of the residents are claiming since fracking started in the town there drinking water has been contaminated. When Phelim McAleer goes to Dimock to talk to the residents, most of the residents claim there's nothing wrong with their water.
During Erin’s discovery of the facts of the case we begin to see the breakdown of the ethical values of PG&E. The dramatization focuses on the deception that PG&E has cast over the inhabitants of Hinkley, California. For years, the company has been polluting the environment with a known deadly toxin, Chromium six. The toxin seeped into natural underground water reservoirs then into the unsuspecting town
Resident Bethany Hazard states that when she filled up her water from the faucet it came out not only brown but smelling of a sewer (Semuels). The river itself has been a source of considerable pollution with a dead body being found in the river in addition to an abandoned car as well as abnormally high levels of trihamlomethanes, and copper (Semuels). The mere fact, however, that such findings were only accidentally leaked underscores a lack of concern for the safety of Flint’s residents. The first tests on the water confirmed that indeed, something was quite wrong. The Environmental Protection Agency, for instance, leaked in a memo that in the water were trace amounts of the E. Coli bacteria, a serious health hazard for people of all ages
In January of 2015, Flint was found to be in violation of the Safe Drinking Water Act after disinfection byproducts were detected at alarming rates (NPR, 2016). Water was somehow still deemed safe for consumption, as the city was very passive in its advisories. Although E. coli, coliform bacteria, and disinfection byproducts were very serious and harmful substances found in the water supply, they would not be the main issue.
The issue is that people can't drink this water because the governor stopped doing the same process of cleaning the water . He wanted to save money and because of this he forgot to add a major chemical in the water. People had concerns about this water but the governor really didn't pay no mind to them , he just told them don't worry the water is safe keep drinking it not knowing
In the article, “How Tap Water Became Toxic in Flint, Michigan,” the authors from CNN, Sara Ganim and Linh Tran, discussed about how Flint’s water became toxic after the state decided to switch their water supply source due to financial issues. The state switched their water supply from Lake Huron to the Flint River. Moreover, after the switch, many residents began to notice a change in their water. For example, one of the residents expressed, “the water started to look, smell and taste funny..it often looked dirty..the water would come in brown..”(Ganim and Tran).
In “Flint’s Water Crises: What went wrong,” Ryan Felton appeals to logic to persuade his readers that the Flint Water Crises could have been prevented because he stated that “As early as October 2014, there were problematic signs.” These signs were when General Motors engine plant stopped using Flint’s water because the engines were becoming rusty. There were also some independent studies that showed that the water contained some compounds that can cause kidney or liver issues an example, “Tests also revealed elevated levels of chemical compounds in the water supply that can lead to liver or kidney issues.” yet, officials continued to reassure residents that the water was safe to drink. Studies continued to follow that shows the water headed
The problem in Flint, Michigan was the residents came to the conclusion that iron found its way into their water supply and people began to panic at the sight of brownish water. In fear they went to city officials and to city police to figure out the problem. They receive all their tap water from the Flint River which is highly corrosive and the Department of Environmental quality was not treating the water with an anti-corrosion agent.
Moving forward into the movie and the case, looking at the big picture, there are several leads and connections that point towards “Beatrice Foods” and “W.R. Grace” to blame. Throughout the entirety of the case, it seemed that it was becoming obvious that they were the companies that caused the toxin contamination in the town’s water supply.
And she is really good at both of them. She meets another cop from the FBI, who is career perfectionist, named Sarah Ashburn (Sandra Bullock). Agent Ashburn is the goody professional, and Agent Mullins is the psycho professional. The two officers do not get along at first. After warming up to one another, they will go out and try to find a drug lord who ruined Agent Mullins’s brother’s life. Along they way, they try to clear some of the crime on the streets.
Starting in the 1900s, the requirements of acting have been changing since its first appearance. Acting has evolved to have multiple genres of films that contain complex themes, styles, dynamics and acting demands. A Golden Globe winning film, “Zero Dark Thirty” clearly shows a unique perspective about horrifying terrorist attacks and the story of the history’s greatest manhunt for the world’s most dangerous man, Osama bin Laden. Jessica Chastain was awarded the best performance by an actress in a motion picture award in 2013 and her acting qualities shows why. In another film made in the 1980s, “The Shining” portrays “human monsters, which are people that can actually do horrible things” (Olivieri 8). Jack Nicholson plays the inflicted father
Within the Gilbane Gold case, the major problem is the contribution of water pollution by dumping chemicals to speed production for Z CORP. However, there is doubt as to what extent the company violated city regulations. Tom Richards believes that Z-CORP broke regulations repeatedly but Professor Massin believes that it is not solid evidence. Part of the problem is that two different tests are involved: an older and a less sensitive test which does not break regulations but there is also the newer and more sensitive one which does. The newer test was said that the company just broke city regulations, but not by a large amount.