Dark Waters (2019)
Dark Waters is a film based on the true story of a corporate lawyer who ends up taking on DuPont Chemical. The origin of the screenplay originated from a Nathaniel Rich expose on attorney Rob Billott in The New York Times Magazine published in January of 2016 entitled, “The Lawyer Who Became DuPont’s Worst Nightmare.” The story detailed a crusading corporate attorney who went back to his hometown to take on the polluters who were destroying it. Actor and environmental activist Mark Ruffalo read the article and thought it would make for a compelling movie, optioning the rights and serving as a producer for the project.
Ruffalo, who has a connection with biopics surrounding the DuPont family after playing the older brother in 2014’s Foxcatcher, approached Todd Haynes with a rough draft script from Matthew Michael Carnahan in 2017 on the hope he would direct. Haynes was stunned by the story but unsure, and with only a small window of availability for Ruffalo to get the film made before he was due for his next project, Haynes couldn’t give the time necessary to make it a viable effort. A well-respected auteur, Haynes is an odd choice for the material given his experience in films has historically been on a decidedly different path. When one more year had passed, and Ruffalo came back to ask again, Haynes reconsidered. Haynes felt it was timely and essential, given the current political environment of valuing profits over personal health.
When they got together, they felt the story could use a little more depth to make things additionally compelling beyond the essentials. Carnahan had already moved on to direct his next project and was unavailable, so Haynes brought in Mario Correa to make some significant revisions to the script. Ruffalo, Haynes, and Correa went to meet many of the people affected by the case in Parkersburg, West Virginia, and Cincinnati, Ohio. In meeting Bilott and his wife Sarah in their home in Cincinnati, they discovered he had an overwhelming sense of fear, loneliness, and detriment to his marriage, all of which made it a hardship for him beyond the uncertainty of prevailing.
The people of Parkersburg that involved themselves, willing to fill in the blanks, became advisors to the film and its story development, and some Parkersburg residents played extras within the film, including scenes with the actors portraying them. In hearing the stories first hand, they decided that there was more of a human element to the case that the initial draft script wasn’t covering and began to make some revisions to emphasize a more personal story than just seeking money from a polluter. It wasn’t just a health cost to a town, but also a personal toll to the man who made helping the people of Parkersburg his life’s crusade.
DuPont was asked to participate, as well. Still, they, of course, declined, so public records, documents that the Parkersburg citizens had in their possession, and their witness accounts represent their viewpoint in absentia. Like so many other corporations, DuPont tries to abide by self-regulation. However, money is coming in by the billions. The desire to stop the gravy train because they might be poisoning people working for them and their families begins to wane in favor of running up as much profit as possible.
Bilott’s crusade against DuPont isn’t a natural adaptation to the screen as the details of the case span decades, starting in 1998 and proceeding forward over the following fifteen years or so. It also isn’t one where a victory against DuPont would lend to a feel-good ending because of the nature of the case. It’s hard to rejoice while watching someone dying of cancer that they received a monetary settlement for a couple of million dollars against a company is still making billions on the chemicals that are making them sick. In its way, Dark Waters is like Bilott himself, not trying for flash and grandstanding, but willing to do all of the seemingly thankless grunt work necessary to make sure the job gets done efficiently and to help those who need someone to give them a voice.
Ruffalo gives a deliberately dry and restrained performance as Rob Bilott, an attorney working for a successful and conservative-minded Cincinnati-based firm of corporate lawyers. Every step of the way smacks of reluctance that holds him back, but a stronger conscience that drives him forward. His skills for protecting corporations are put to the test after a cattle farmer from his small home town in West Virginia approaches him, imploring him to look into why his livestock is diseased and their offspring born with severe congenital disabilities. He and his family might be getting cancer due to their exposure as well.
The farm happens to be near where the biggest employer in the area, DuPont, which has been dumping their chemicals, he feels, has polluted the nearby waterways and has caused great harm to those exposed to the runoff. Bilott and his firm would typically defend the corporation, but this case hits close to home, literally, for the young lawyer. What’s worse, Bilott discovers, is that the product DuPont has dumped that is making Parkersburg sick is unregulated by the EPA. They are making cookware with it that might also be doing its damage to the rest of the world who are ingesting traces of it every day in their cookware coated with the wildly popular nonstick substance known as Teflon.
Dark Waters falls under the subgenre of other whistleblower films like Silkwood, The Insider, and Erin Brockovich, where the closer the truth is to get out, the more the stranglehold placed on the person sniffing around by those with power. The story similar in form to those told before, yet these stories must continue to come out because many still haven’t gotten the message. In this film, most of the victims are not on Bilott’s side against taking on the goliath that is doing them harm. The people of the town who are the victims of the purported poisoning are willing to take the risk because they depend on their jobs with DuPont to keep putting food on their tables.
The more connections Bilott makes, the more isolated he feels. Even his sympathetic boss, Tom Terp (played by Tim Robbins), and wife Sarah (played by Anne Hathaway), are beginning to feel a certain trepidation. They question the Bilott’s financial, emotional, and physical tolls of continuing on the crusade he’s been on for years, with only salary cuts, mild strokes, and a dysfunctional home life to show for his effort. Ultimately, by the end of the film, Bilott isn’t even able to do anything on his own, as he awaits, helplessly, the results of scientific data that will either make or break his entire case. The anticipation and agony of not knowing the effects go on for years.
It’s Todd Haynes’ unique background in filmmaking that makes Dark Waters compelling, as he concentrates more on Rob Bilott’s personal story and obstacles than he does on the details of the case against DuPont. Although this could have adhered to a courtroom drama formula and been successful, Haynes brings his penchant for delving into the ways that class differentials, societal connections, and the dynamics within a committed relationship come into as significant a role in the behavior of individuals.
Haynes is also interested in how things are put together to form a complete picture, which is one of the reasons he counts All the Presidents Men among his favorite films. We all know where the story is going to go in the end. Yet, it’s the journey to get to that place where all the chips fall that becomes so interesting. It’s not the winning or losing that’s important in Haynes’ film. It’s the changes that are made in his protagonist, in his family, in a community, in business and the laws of the country. The people are small, but the footprint they leave behind is enormous.
In addition to the real-life struggles of individuals, Dark Waters also proves relevant given how the current political and social climate of the United States has grown more toward supporting corporations and jobs over regulations to protect the environment and human health. The film also explores the nature of how corporations seem to hold all of the best cards when it comes to court cases against them. They pay for all of the best lawyers who know how to stall, delay, deflect, and even intimidating to scare off plaintiffs to make it seem like pursuing them is not worth their while. Meanwhile, those people suffering and seeking retribution are shunned and sometimes bullied by their communities, who see the company as providing jobs and money to them and their neighbors.
The story is worthy of telling in this day and age. Environmental and corporate regulations are rescinded daily in favor of putting more power in companies to self-regulate. Yet, there is a detached nature to Dark Waters that keeps it from going from a good film to a great one. The tempo doesn’t quite settle into a defined groove, sometimes lingering long on moments that don’t drive forward the story in an engaging way. It skips ahead to moments that feel like they are abbreviated, rushing through exposition to get to the intimate scenes where the actors have a couple of dramatic moments. There are two concurrent storylines competing for screen time and our attention: the court case itself and the personal drama of the soul-sucking nature putting career and family on the line to pursue that court case. While both are worthy of exploration, the shift in focus between the two aspects results in a film that is fascinating in content but distracting in form.
The cast is full of excellent actors, yet they don’t entirely build on each other; Anne Hathaway, in particular, gives an objectively good performance, yet her presence and demeanor seem out of sorts with the different pieces of the film’s progression. Then there are the moments where the characters feel a sense of paranoia, though it is unknown if it is just their imagination. Bilott sees a shadowy figure in a parking lot and grows nervous as he turns the key in his ignition. A concerned citizen helping the lawsuit sees an abandoned house burned down the family owns across the street, and it realizes that it may have been intentional and mistakenly meant for their home. These events up the tension and their fear of retribution from a multibillion-dollar corporation may have been palpable. Still, they do come across as manufactured drama in a film that is otherwise playing things straight.
Haynes has said that this is a story he wanted to get out there in a hurry before the election year, presumably as a warning to voters that the current way the government is going will only reap more of what we see. However, it’s the fact that the story does feel a little slapdash at times that Dark Waters slows and speeds in a manner that doesn’t quite grip in those moments that it should. Then again, the nature of the real-life case was also filled with starts and stops, with sparse moments of victory doles out over the course of two decades of research and waiting. The subject matter does manage to feel weighty as delivered and substantive enough to change a few minds in the audience about how much we should allow chemical corporations to go unchecked, especially when they make products for everyday home use.
By the end of the film, you come to realize that the scales of justice heavily favor the wealthy in American society. There is vital importance for whistleblowers and those who seek to help everyday people who can’t afford to fight against the corporate titans who pay a great deal of money in attorneys and politicians to make sure their interests prevail. While the prolonged battle is costly, the film brings to the forefront the notion of the importance of holding corporations accountable for pollution and waste, as profits should not come above the health and safety of communities and employees who seek to keep them profitable. We have to keep from growing cynical and feeling like we can’t make a difference because we, the citizens, have the power to change our communities, our countries, or worlds if we can ban together to fight for what’s right.
Qwipster’s rating: B+
MPAA Rated: PG-13 for thematic content, some disturbing images, and strong language
Running Time: 126 min.
Cast: Mark Ruffalo, Anne Hathaway, Tim Robbins, Bill Camp, Victor Garber, Bill Pullman, Mare Winningham
Director: Todd Haynes
Screenplay: Matthew Michael Carnahan, Mario Correa (based on a magazine article by Nathaniel Rich)