ExxonMobil has been exploring oil and gas for more than 30 years in my residence, they do the drilling and the work every day. It has produced noise from the oil refineries which is heard in several districts.
Now, the company no longer exists, and the abandoned oil mines have been transferred to Pertamina (the state-owned oil company). There are many environmental causes that have befallen the community, and Exxon at that time only provided a free hospital for the community. I do not know the bad effects they have on society, given the many complaints, such as water and air pollution. Here, activists are always silenced when they do their work to sue ExxonMobil.
That is my memory, which suddenly appeared when I watched DARK WATER last night, it's just that the case is the same, but the company is different. Not Exxon, but DuPont.
DARK WATERS (2019)
This biographical film and based on a true story has given me new knowledge about Teflon, about substances harmful to human health. For the types of films based on true stories, I have thought about the risk of watching, "sometimes there is no happy ending". I accept that.
Dark Waters tells the story of a lawyer, who eventually had to fight the big company DuPont, he had to deal with a big conspiracy behind him - who had been defended by his place of work, - moreover, he had to sacrifice everything of value in his life, including his family.
A lawyer named Robert Billott (Mark Ruffalo) joined a large law firm, Taft Stettinius & Hollister, the company worked to defend many large companies, including DuPont company.
Billot's action began when a village farmer reported irregularities towards the death of his domestic cows, which he had never witnessed before, in his experience of herding cattle for decades. The farmer believes that there has been water pollution due to the actions of the DuPont company. Respond to the report, Billott is increasingly curious about what really happened. And the time had come for him to drag the American giant company into legal action.
In this film, Billott is said to always work alone. He seemed to have no colleagues who could help him. Not help, but many are afraid of these large companies, which have won praise from many people. So, this is what makes it different from the others. But, interestingly, his wife Sarah Barlage Bilott (Anne Hathaway) always supports him, even though he does not understand the problems faced by Billott.
From almost the entire film, we will be shown the difficulties of Billott in solving the case, and we will be amazed by his persistence in reading one by one of the DuPont documents he received. Imagine the limitations of computers that year, which still use Windows ME and rely on an ALTAVISTA search portal. There are so many paper documents, some even belong to the 1950s and must be done manually.
Well, in this film, you will be shown Billott, who has a lot of dialogues with his own boss Tom Terp (Tim Robbins), who has an ambitious and high-profile character. This is an allusion to DuPont's boss, Phil Donnelly (Victor Garber), who is described as looking good in public but arrogant.
This film has made us aware of how dangerous the chemicals contained in Teflon, which we use every day for cooking. There are still many stories that will make you surprised by the data. Alright, I'm done here, happy watching!
Dark Waters Official Trailer from Focus Entertainment
- Movie Title: DARK WATERS
- Year: 2019
- Release Date: 28 February 2020 (UK)
- Genre: Biography, Drama, History
- Director: Todd Haynes
- Stars: Mark Ruffalo, Anne Hathaway, Tim Robbins
- Duration: 2h 6min
- Distributed: Focus Entertainment
- Rating from me: 6.8/10