(1998) Director Steven Zaillian adapted Jonathan Harr's novel (based on actual events) into this first-class film about a David-vs-Goliath class-action law suit involving the deaths of children in Woburn, Massachusetts, from drinking-water pollution.

Personal-injury attorney Jan Schlichtmann (John Travolta) of the small, three-man law firm Schlichtmann, Conway, and Crowley, informs us that the ideal client is a white male, 40 years of age, in the prime years of his earning ability; the least appealing client is a dead child. Nevertheless, after taking a phone call on the air during his radio-talk program from Anne Anderson (Kathleen Quinlan), a mother whose child died from leukemia, Jan reluctantly agrees to meet with her and the other bereaved families in Woburn.

Anne and the others say they're not interested in monetary reparations for their losses; they want an explanation and an apology. Twelve deaths in fifteen years, eight of them minors, in a small town with a river where the water tasted bad ten to fifteen years ago, but other than a tannery, there's no obvious corporate villain - who's going to apologize and pay for the legal fees - until Jan notices (stopped and ticketed for speeding, which he later says was "fate") in the railway yard boxcars with the names W.R. Grace and Beatrice Foods.

Locally operated for three generations, J. Riley's leather tannery is owned by Beatrice Foods, which belongs to W.R. Grace, the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. A little investigation uncovers trichloroethylene (TCE) as the apparently chemical that contaminated the water, but how? Geologists and seismic engineers with their expensive equipment and expertise will be needed to answer the question.

Jan tells us: "Law suits are war." Big companies try to intimidate their adversaries, Jan explains: "I don't run away from bullies." Upon receiving Schlichtmann's notification of the class action, W.R. Grace's lawyer Bill Cheeseman (Bruce Norris) contacts Beatrice's legal counsel Jerry Facher (Robert Duvall), who together represent companies with a combined net income of $634 million. Their first effort to dismiss the case by rule 11 (frivolous suit) is summarily rejected by Judge Skinner (John Lithgow).

One of Riley's employees, Al Love (James Gandolfini), a neighbor of Anne Anderson, comes forward, telling Cheeseman: "I know what happened, and I know who did it." Another parent describes tearfully how his son died in the car on the way to the clinic. After hearing the depositions, Facher says: "These people can never testify."

Of the 700,000 civil cases annually, only 12,000 go to court, Jan informs us: "Trials are a corruption of the entire process." A lawyer who's skittish about money is as useless to his client as a doctor who recoils at the sight of blood is to his patient. Jan asks for $320 million in compensation for damages ($1.5 million to be paid to each of the families for each of the next 30 years and creation of an institute for further study and prevention of similar poisonings); legal fees would take 40%. Facher offers a much more modest figure. "They think they can buy us," Jan tells his partners; the firm's accountant James Gordon (William H. Macy) warns that they can't afford a long, drawn-out trial.

The case goes to trial; Anne promises to be in court every day in the back left-hand corner just like her son had said to her, "I'll meet you in the back left-hand corner of heaven." Facher instructs a class that "money for suffering and money for death" are the motives for law suits; momentum and rhythm of the victims' attorney must be met with objections; a lawyer's greatest liability in court is pride: never ask a witness "Why?" if you don't know in advance the answer.

Pinched to the bone, floating on credit - Gordon buys lottery tickets and sends a pledge to a televangelist who promises "give and you shall receive" - Jan's team begs the bank for a loan of $600,000. Facher informs his younger opponent: "A courtroom isn't the place to look for truth" - making an offer to settle for $20 million - look for truth "at the bottom of a bottomless pit."

Threadbare in a mythic struggle, Jan meets with Beatrice's president Al Eustis (Sydney Pollack) in New York City, who offers only $8 million in settlement without admission of any wrong doing: "Don't go for broke. It isn't worth it."

Frustrated and broke, their homes mortgaged, Gordon accuses Jan of being willing to accept only what they won't offer. Facing Jan and his partners, Anne says: "How can you even begin to compare what you've lost with what we've lost?"

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Copyright © 2007 Patrick Ivers. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder.

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