Three Powerful Films Dealing with Big Business Water Contamination Based on Real Cases
- Liz Publika
- Apr 10, 2022
- 2 min read
Updated: Jan 2
by Liz Publika
A Civil Action (1998)
A Civil Action (1998), the legal drama written and directed by Steven Zaillian, is based on the 1995 non-fiction book with the eponymous title by Jonathan Harr. It recounts the true story of the environmental pollution litigation that took place in Woburn, Massachusetts, in the 1980s, when trichloroethylene and tetrachloroethylene were found contaminating the town’s water supply. The central civil trial occurred in 1986, following years of investigation and legal preparation. The plaintiffs were represented by Jan Schlichtmann, who led them through one of the most widely publicized and consequential pollution lawsuits involving major corporations of its era.
Erin Brockovich (2000)
Erin Brockovich (2000), the biographical legal drama directed by Steven Soderbergh and written by Susannah Grant, is a dramatization of the true story of Erin Brockovich. The plot revolves around Brockovich, then a single mom working as a legal clerk for a law practice, who discovers a corporate coverup regarding hexavalent chromium (chromium-6) contaminated water, and the subsequent fight to hold Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) accountable for its culpability in the Hinkley, California, groundwater contamination incident.
Dark Waters (2019)
Dark Waters (2019), the legal thriller directed by Todd Haynes and written by Mario Correa and Matthew Michael Carnahan, dramatizes Robert Bilott's case against the chemical manufacturing corporation DuPont, whose operations near Parkersburg, West Virginia, led to widespread groundwater and drinking-water contamination with perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), also known as C-8. It’s based on a number of published works about the case, but heavily draws from the 2016 New York Times Magazine article “The Lawyer Who Became DuPont’s Worst Nightmare” by Nathaniel Rich.
Note* The cover image to this article is available via Fair Use.