Dark Waters (2019 film)

Dark Waters (2019 film)

Dark Waters is a 2019 American legal thriller film directed by Todd Haynes and written by Mario Correa and Matthew Michael Carnahan. The story dramatizes Robert Bilott’s case against the chemical manufacturing corporation DuPont. It stars Mark Ruffalo as Bilott, along with Anne Hathaway, Tim Robbins, Bill Camp, Victor Garber, Mare Winningham, William Jackson Harper, and Bill Pullman.

About Dark Waters (2019 film) in brief

Summary Dark Waters (2019 film)Dark Waters is a 2019 American legal thriller film directed by Todd Haynes and written by Mario Correa and Matthew Michael Carnahan. The story dramatizes Robert Bilott’s case against the chemical manufacturing corporation DuPont after they contaminated a town with unregulated chemicals. It stars Mark Ruffalo as Bilott, along with Anne Hathaway, Tim Robbins, Bill Camp, Victor Garber, Mare Winningham, William Jackson Harper, and Bill Pullman. Dark Waters had a limited theatrical release on November 22, 2019, by Focus Features, and went wide on December 6, 2019. The film received positive reviews from critics and has grossed over USD 23 million. It is based on the 2016 New York Times Magazine article \”The Lawyer Who Became DuPont’s Worst Nightmare\” by Nathaniel Rich. Bilott also wrote a memoir, Exposure, detailing his 20-year legal battle against DuPont. It was first told in the 2007 book \”Stain-Resistant, Nonstick, Waterproof and Lethal: The Hidden Dangers of C8\” by Callie Lyons, a Mid-Ohio Valley journalist who covered the controversy as it was unfolding.

DuPont has been running tests of the effect of PFOA for decades, finding that it causes cancer and birth defects, but did not make the findings public. They dumped thousands of tons of toxic sludge in a landfill next to Wilbur Tennant’s farm. Robert’s team argues that the corporation is liable, as the amount in the water was higher than the one part per billion deemed safe by the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection. In court, DuPont agrees to settle for over USD 300 million. Seven years later, Tennant dies and Robert becomes destitute following several pay cuts, with no result from the study. Nearly 70,000 people donate blood to the study, and Robert needs to take another pay cut to take the money after donating blood to get it to the scientists. Du Pont is only required to carry out medical monitoring if scientists prove that PfoA causes the ailments, an independent review is set up.