Erin Brockovich (2000) - Movie Review Example

[Your full March 01, Erin Brockovich Movie (2000) - Review In the movie, which is mixture of comedy and drama genres, actress Julia Roberts is playing the part of Erin Brockovich who is a single mother, twice divorced, with no job at hand. She is unable to find a suitable job for her and considers it her bad luck. She fails a lawsuit which she had filed against a doctor with whom she had a car accident. As a compensation for the loss, she convinces her lawyer to give her a low level assistant’s job at the Los Angeles law firm who, out of sympathy for her, grants her the job.

She was not taken seriously because people judged her through her tasteless dressing and plain etiquettes. But, her personality starts to transform into a well-mannered lady once she enters into an investigation regarding a real estate of the Pacific Gas and Electric Company. She comes to know that the company is dumping its toxic wastes into the California city’s water thus poisoning the drinking water of 600 citizens with chromium. Her involvement in this case, without her having any law degree or experience, makes it America’s biggest class-action lawsuit against a multi-billion dollar company, proving Erin to be a talented woman who brings down a powerful company all by herself.

Hence, the movie depicts a character-based true event of American history involving one of “the largest direct-action legal settlement” (Null) that ever happened in America. Although Albert Finney, who is acting Erin’s irritable boss, is also an interesting character; still, Erin’s trashy and plain mannerism holds the viewer’s attention through the length of the movie. “The story of Erin Brockovich is an inspirational reminder of the power of the human spirit”, says Henderson. The movie is a sweet story of her struggle and passion which led her to become a successful woman who ended her helping herself through helping others.

Erin portrays the labor class of America who is fighting to make their both ends meet and desperate for justice and employment. People of this class face punishments and ill decisions from the law even when there is no fault of theirs. Thus, Erin’s is the story that starts with a depiction of plight of the working class. Also, the two sides of Erin Brockovich are correctly shown in the film which includes “the tender loveliness of a mother to match her first name, and the assaulting harshness of a fullback to match her last name” (O’Hara).

However, she has been shown as being foul-mouthed which the labor class is usually stereotyped as. For example, when Erin gets into an argument with a colleague and the latter says that they got off on the wrong foot, Erin replies that all she (the colleague) has were two wrong feet. The movie proves to some extent that it is always the labor class of people that has to suffer despite America being a democratic country. This is because of the low socio-economic status of that class which is the basic reason of its plight.

However, the wonderful characters and the story of the movie compel me to recommend it to everybody. Works Cited Henderson, Bailey. “Erin Brockovich (2000) Synopsis.” Real Movie News. Real Movie News, 2008. Web. 01 Mar 2011. . Null, Christopher. “Erin Brockovich.” Filmcritic.com. American Movie Classics Company LLC, 2000. Web. 01 Mar 2011. . O’Hara, Mark. Erin Brockovich. Erik Hundland, 2000. Web. 01 Mar 2011. .