Movie Review-Erin Brockovich
Erin Brockovich, a 2000 Jersy Film Production, staring Julia Roberts is based on a true story that involved Pacific Gas and Electric Company using hexavalent chromium or chromium six as a rust inhibitor to prevent corrosion of pistons used in engines. According to the movie, for fourteen years, the Pacific Gas and Electric Company had been dumping water containing chromium six into ponds and covering them over. The ponds were not lined and the chromium based water leaked into the local water supply exposing residents of Hinkley, California to chromium six. Repeated exposure to hexavalent chromium causes chronic headaches, cancer, nose bleeds, bone and organ deterioration, respiratory failure, liver failure, heart failure, bone or organ deterioration and it gets into your DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) and diseases can be passed onto your children and it can affect any type of reproduction. The legal limit for chromium six is .05 parts per million. The entire film shows the power that big corporations have over us as American citizens and how their interest in making a profit is more important that human life. Leaving a job interview, Erin is struck in the side by a speeding vehicle. Injured and hurting, she finds herself in the office of Lawyer Ed Masry, played by Albert Finney, filing suit against the speeding driver for her injuries. Mr. Masry assures Erin that they have a good chance of winning the lawsuit. When Erin is on the witness stand, the defense attorneys says that she must have been desperate with three kids, no job and two ex-husbands that the emergency room doctor looked pretty promising. Loosing the case, she is again looking for a job to support her family. Ed Masry is nearly forced to hire Erin when confronted about a job before his entire staff. Erin's office work leads her to investigate a pro-bono real estate case where Pacific Gas and Electric is trying to purchase the Jensen's property that is located near the Hinkley facility for an
References: Soderbergh, S. (Director). (2000). Erin Brockovich [Motion picture]. United States: Universal Studios.