I noticed last night that Netflix had added the movie Erin Brockovich and I had distant memories of watching this years ago and remembering it was great. So I decided to pop it on and man has that movie survived its ageing well!
The Story- Spoiler Free
So Julia Roberts plays Erin Brockovich, a smart woman who has lacked work training and education opportunities due to having children young and who is now stuck between a rock and a hard place after the fathers of the babies left her with all the financial responsibilities and a chronic lack of time. When she gets injured in a traffic accident, her lawyer Ed Masry promises her they will win the case. When they do not Erin talks him into giving her a job to pay her bills.
As she starts to work as a filer in the law firm the case of a family grabs her attention. PG&E, a giant industrial firm has built a plant outside the village of Hinkley and tries to buy up property from the local residents. Only problem is, these residents are all getting severely ill. Because of her great investigative work Erin establishes a relation with the locals and figures out that PG&E is not as innocent as they make themselves come across. But how do you fight Goliath in court? And how especially do you manage when you are also juggling three children as a single working woman. Not to mention all the lawyers and corporate men who look down on her?
Why is this movie so great?
Because great it is! I think it has stood the test of time so great mostly because:
It is still relevant: how often don't people feel like they stand powerless against big companies or governments? And how much would they like someone genuine that was fighting for them? I think this movie touches upon a lot of real topics, without sugar coating them. Yes it is hard to fight injustice and yes it is hard to be a single working mother of three!
It was real: so if you hadn't noticed yet, Erin Brockovich is real! The movie is based on a true story and is a pretty accurate description of reality. In this case it makes the story even more impressive.
It is funny: man did I have a laugh yesterday. The characters are genuine, Erin and lawyer Ed Masry can really get under each others nerves sometimes and say pretty hilarious things. It is so important for a movie about such a serious topic to also have that humor in that just takes the edge off a bit and this movie does it really well!
So go watch this Golden Oldie from 2000 again when you have a free evening, I think you will enjoy it a lot! What fun movies have you been watching lately?
I love the storyline and it is worth seeing because I am curious about she was able to handle the problem she discovered.