Dark Water: Bringing Cinematic Clarity to Evil Corporate Murkiness io

I was fortunate enough to see an advance screening a few weeks ago with Todd Haynes, Mark Ruffalo, & lawyer Rob Bilott of Todd Haynes’ tour de force drama Dark Waters.

This dramatic exposè of Bilott’s decades long battle against chemical giant DuPont stars Bill Camp, Mark Ruffalo, Anne Hathaway, Tim Robbins, and Bill Pullman in incredibly emotional performances.

While Mark Ruffalo clearly dominates the screen in this intense war with a corporate giant whose pockets are bottomless, Bill Camp’s no-nonsense portrayal of Wilbur Tennant, is so perfect it seems as if he was a farmer plucked out of the fields and given his shot on screen.

Tennant’s beautifully crafted, flawless portrayal of Tennant- a hard working, quiet man of few but strong words, is so evocative that I would be surprised if he was passed over for a best supporting actor nod. Trained at Juilliard, Tony Award winner ( 2016’s The Crucible) Camp hits all the emotional notes that bring to life Tennant’s struggle. We see the anger, frustration & perseverance that Tennant, life long farmer & owner of the cow farm that had been in his family for generations, experienced during his journey to get Bilott to review and then accept his case. The case centered on the dumping of toxic chemicals on his farm , which leached into the soil & water supply by corporate monster DuPont. Dark waters, literal & figurative, indeed.

Ruffalo, doing double duty as producer & lead in the film, brings in a solid performance as a harried young lawyer defending corporate chemical giants, who is faced with a life changing choice when he realizes the enormity of DuPont’s egregious actions. The character arc that Ruffalo follows, the incredulity that plays out on his face as he is confronted by the cold- hearted, ruthless behavior that DuPont exhibited for decades, is a wonder to behold. Ruffalo said that he made certain character choices regarding his portrayal of Bilott, and you can see the physical progression, that Bilott becomes more appealing, as he grows more certain in his convictions throughout the film.

Director Haynes Haynes ups the ante with strong imagery & story development in this pressure-cooker of a movie.

Following the film, Haynes, Ruffalo & Bilott walked into a standing ovation from an industry-only audience, & I have to say, the minute I saw Rob Bilott walk into the theatre, I was on my feet.

His bravery in pursuing DuPont & making them own up to their responsibility for the carcinogenic effects of Teflon and the havoc it wreaked on the communities where it was dumped as well as on the workers who came into contact with it in the factory setting, is truly epic.

In fact, according to Bloomberg reporters Jef Feeley & Michael Leonard, the effects of Bilott’s heroic actions against DuPont continue to play out in court after DuPont merged with Dow Chemical in 2015. The merger prompted a spinoff of Chemours, which shares liability for damages from Teflon related claims. Teflon & Chemours are currently in a heated legal battle, which DuPont tried & failed to keep secret, about shared responsibility for the claims, with over $631 million (and rising) settled to date.

During the q & a that followed the screening, director Hayes mentioned that while he was familiar with the results of the DuPont Teflon lawsuit, he hadn’t realized the extent to which Teflon has infiltrated people’s lives: ” …it’s in cookware, paint, carpets.” he mentioned that its uses are so ubiquitous in daily life that scientists observe that almost every living being on the planet has some amount of Teflon’s active, permanent molecule, C-8 (PFOA), in their system.

After watching the struggle that Tennant experienced to get someone to take his claims seriously, and the fight that ate up so many decades of Bilott’s personal & professional life, I was floored at the commitment of Bilott in bringing DuPont to justice as well as the honesty & skill that Haynes, Ruffalo, Camp et al, brought to the overwhelming task of bringing their fight to the screen.

One final note: Needless to say, as soon as I got home, I got rid of every single piece of teflon in my kitchen, as well as the carpet in my living room… at least it’s a start…Dupont’s famous line “better living through chemistry” doesn’t hold anymore -at least not in my kitchen.