Another double-feature night this weekend because I was just so darn busy! Sadly, they were the only two I managed to watch, but I promise I’ll catch up over the course of the week.
First up was Dark Waters, starring Mark Ruffalo. Holy moly you must all go see this film! It was dark, well-crafted, and superbly acted, but most notably, it brought to light an incredible cover-up that was and still is detrimental to over 70,000 citizens living in Parkersberg, West Virginia.
The story follows lawyer, Robert Bilott, who as a defense attorney for chemical companies decides to switch allegiances, so to speak, when a farmer comes to his Cincinnati office telling him that DuPont, a chemical giant, has been poisoning his cows. At first there is confusion and resistance from Bilott until he goes to visit the farm first hand to see that it’s a graveyard. And after watching videos and collecting as much data as he can, he manages to convince the partners at his firm that this is a cause worth fighting for.
As expected, this Fortune 500 company isn’t going to go down without a fight, so they don’t hand over anything that Bilott can use until a court orders them to. In response, they send over an entire room full of documents that they believe Bilott will give up on. But he doesn’t and finds all the nails that should go into DuPont’s coffin; however, you’ve got local citizens and political figures afraid to go against them. The evidence is damning, but it takes over a decade for any retribution to come of it.
In fear of giving too much else away, I’ll stop there, but it was insane to learn about this! Given how close to home it was, how many people it affected, and the ultimate outcome, it was mind-blowing to me that’d I’d never heard about this. I’m also still shocked to know that DuPont still operates as a Fortune 500 company. Seriously, go see this movie and get educated!
Next up was the highly touted Queen & Slim. Unfortunately, coming straight out of Dark Waters and into this movie means I was a little disappointed. Maybe if I’d gone to see this by itself I would be highly impressed, but it was just an extra long car chase.
The film follows Ernest and Angela on their way home from an awkward date, when they get pulled over by an irritated cop who eventually over-reacts and gets himself killed in self defense by Ernest. As a knee-jerk reaction, Angela insists that they need to run. They ditch their cell phones and head down to Georgia to meet up with her uncle. Along the way they make several stops, but no one in the black community ever gives them any troubles. They stand with them and the decision they had to make.
I agree that the cop brought this on himself and there was no reason for them to be pulled over and asked out of the car, but Angela was wholly responsible for the events that took place. She was being short with the cop, got out of the car when she shouldn’t have, and then told them to run. I just think there were better ways to handle the situation. We live in a world where they may not get the benefit of the doubt, but I’d have to believe they would have had a better outcome than they did as fugitives.
Either way, the film was beautifully shot, and leads, Daniel Kaluuya and Jodie Tuner-Smith were captivating in the story they were telling. It was also nice to see a bond form between these two who really didn’t have a connection to start with. There were also some great supporting turns by Bokeem Woodbine, Flea, Chloe Sevigny, and Sturgill Simpson.
If I had to pick one for you to go see, it would definitely be Dark Waters, but don’t count Queen & Slim out if you’ve got the time!