Mr. Movie: ‘Dark Waters’ is a dark movie

In 1999, corporate attorney Rob Bilott is contacted by a farmer in Parkersburg, West Virginia. He suspects DuPont has dumped chemicals in the water his cows drink. They’re not doing well and his family is also having health issues. Bilott does a little investigating, believes his client and files a lawsuit.

DuPont denies doing anything wrong and the fight begins.

“Dark Waters” is a version of the true story of the suit, and the attorney and law firm that braved a tilted court system, and — according to some — the nation’s broken system of law. Bilott and his colleagues worked long and hard to bring justice to the families impacted by DuPont’s alleged chemical abuses.

Mark Ruffalo plays Bilott. He is a lawyer about to make partner at Taft Stettinius & Hollister. Ironically, at that time the firm made its money advising clients like DuPont on how to apply the 1980 federal superfund law to their businesses.

Most of you know Ruffalo from playing Bruce Banner, aka The Hulk in the Avengers and other Marvel movies. When given a great part, Ruffalo is capable of doing more than just turning green and growling. He plays Bilott as a quiet, unassuming man but also one who refuses to settle.

And no one — at least these days — does low-key better than Ruffalo. But low-key, when done by Ruffalo, means you get a sense of the strength of will that his characters possess. Bilott — who has the patience of Job — has that kind of strength and Ruffalo plays that strength perfectly.

Best of all, Ruffalo does it without a lot of ranting and raving. Instead he relies on the little things that separate a good actor from a great one. Dialogue isn’t needed. Ruffalo is an expert at the use of a pained expression or a look of shock to convey thoughts. It is true acting genius and why critics have been Ruffalo fans for a couple of decades, and we were fans way before the rest of the world got to know him as The Hulk.

So what about director Todd Haynes and his movie?

You have to view the topics investigated in movies like “Dark Waters” with some skepticism. It’s political and I always ask the obvious question: What’s the agenda? Obviously, Haynes wants to let the world know what happened. To his credit, he pretty much just tells us what happened. Since DuPont is the villain it also is from the point of view of the plaintiffs.

Obviously — and because it’s a movie — dramatic license has to be taken. That license, however, is not overly-dramatic and fact-checkers say Haynes’ film is fairly accurate. What DuPont did — though never admitted — is insidious.

The lawsuit battle between DuPont and Bilott lasted close to 20 years before DuPont ran out of room in the end zone and dropped the ball. The company ended up paying out over $670 million. Haynes has to pack close to 20 years into a little over two hours. Normally, that means a story will move fairly fast.

That’s not the case with “Dark Waters.” Lawsuits have lots of dead time to them and unfortunately, so does this movie. Other than Ruffalo’s acting there often isn’t that much happening. The story — like the real court case — is rather uneventful.

It is — however — dramatic.

Haynes is a very good storyteller. As Haynes did with his two best films, “Carol” and “Far From Heaven,” the power of his movie is how quietly the story is told. There are no loud courtroom outbursts or Perry Mason theatrics. Super dramatic scenes like the one where Bilott tears up the family kitchen, or where — as the trailer shows — he worries about his car being blown up, are few.

Instead, Haynes simply tells Bilott’s story and that of the chemical company’s victims. It’s simple, straight-forward and — I promise — a film that will have you leaving the theater as angry at DuPont and the others that knew the dreadful secret of the destructive nature of those chemicals as Bilott and his clients.

To get that kind of a reaction is good filmmaking, and is — other than the historical significance of the case — what makes “Dark Waters” a very good movie.

▪ Rated PG-13 for mature themes. It’s playing at the AMC Classic Kennewick 12, at the Fairchild Cinemas Southgate 10 and Queensgate 12 and at Walla Walla Grand Cinemas.

▪ Rating: 4 out of 5

This story was originally published December 5, 2019 at 8:06 PM with the headline "Mr. Movie: ‘Dark Waters’ is a dark movie."