Welcome back to another edition of Adam's Reviews!! **queue in intro music**
Today's movie review is the true story drama Silkwood (1983) based on the story of Karen Silkwood who is an ordinary worker at a plutonium processing plant who becomes concerned with the safety practices and becomes part of the union to raise awareness of the lack of health and safety precautions at the plant. The queen herself Meryl Streep portrays Karen as a hard-working, passionate and funny young woman who tried to make a difference. Her vocal opinions around her company made quite a few people mad simply because she told the truth as she saw it and did what she thought was right around the violations that could harm everyone not just at the plant but the whole state. As mentioned in the movie, plutonium can cause Cancer and other long-term illnesses.
The movie itself is not a conspiracy but more of a human perspective of living in tough Americana conditions. There is no labelling of villains in this flick nor is it suggesting that making plutonium fuel rods for nuclear reactors is dangerous. The movie is more about displaying the working-class citizens in America who are slaves for big corporate firms and must work to make ends meet plus to avoid losing their only consistent income. This even means working long hours seven days a week. Meryl brings out another outstanding performance by portraying someone who is punished for her thoughts and opinions. Her role is so convincing it is as if I am more watching a documentary of the life of this woman rather than watching a movie. The movie doesn't play itself as a mystery or a suspicious ploy but more of what transpired. The scene where Streep's character Karen is exposed to high levels of radiation is really believable and gut-wrenching.
The other cast members of this flick includes Kurt Russell who plays Drew Stephens, Karen's boyfriend and Cher who plays Dolly Pelliker, Karen's roommate. Cher did an amazing job as the unglamorous lesbian friend who is trying to take each ugly hard day as it is yet is still loyal and stores whatever leftovers there are in the fridge. Her laid back approach to life is a mask which is filled with sadness. Kurt Russell gives a solid performance and shows he is not just an action star. The combinations of both actors make this movie believable and strong.
Spoiler alert the film ends with Karen Silkwood getting into a mysterious car accident and died at the scene. She was on her way to deliver some documents to a New York Times reporter when her car left the road. The documents were never found. Was the accident caused in some way? Was she murdered? The movie doesn't say and ends there. Nor does it point suspicion only toward the company. If this is what really transpired of a woman been vocal yet scared of jeopardizing her job to uncover dangerous practices before dying a mysterious death - it does make you wonder...was it the corporate organisation? The movie puts a touching story about a town that was dealing with the prospect of having to choose between the risk of toxic infection and their livelihood and the tragic story of a woman who had courage to reveal what was happening and the danger that developed from taking a stand. Overall, 7.5/10
Today's movie review is the true story drama Silkwood (1983) based on the story of Karen Silkwood who is an ordinary worker at a plutonium processing plant who becomes concerned with the safety practices and becomes part of the union to raise awareness of the lack of health and safety precautions at the plant. The queen herself Meryl Streep portrays Karen as a hard-working, passionate and funny young woman who tried to make a difference. Her vocal opinions around her company made quite a few people mad simply because she told the truth as she saw it and did what she thought was right around the violations that could harm everyone not just at the plant but the whole state. As mentioned in the movie, plutonium can cause Cancer and other long-term illnesses.
The movie itself is not a conspiracy but more of a human perspective of living in tough Americana conditions. There is no labelling of villains in this flick nor is it suggesting that making plutonium fuel rods for nuclear reactors is dangerous. The movie is more about displaying the working-class citizens in America who are slaves for big corporate firms and must work to make ends meet plus to avoid losing their only consistent income. This even means working long hours seven days a week. Meryl brings out another outstanding performance by portraying someone who is punished for her thoughts and opinions. Her role is so convincing it is as if I am more watching a documentary of the life of this woman rather than watching a movie. The movie doesn't play itself as a mystery or a suspicious ploy but more of what transpired. The scene where Streep's character Karen is exposed to high levels of radiation is really believable and gut-wrenching.
The other cast members of this flick includes Kurt Russell who plays Drew Stephens, Karen's boyfriend and Cher who plays Dolly Pelliker, Karen's roommate. Cher did an amazing job as the unglamorous lesbian friend who is trying to take each ugly hard day as it is yet is still loyal and stores whatever leftovers there are in the fridge. Her laid back approach to life is a mask which is filled with sadness. Kurt Russell gives a solid performance and shows he is not just an action star. The combinations of both actors make this movie believable and strong.
Spoiler alert the film ends with Karen Silkwood getting into a mysterious car accident and died at the scene. She was on her way to deliver some documents to a New York Times reporter when her car left the road. The documents were never found. Was the accident caused in some way? Was she murdered? The movie doesn't say and ends there. Nor does it point suspicion only toward the company. If this is what really transpired of a woman been vocal yet scared of jeopardizing her job to uncover dangerous practices before dying a mysterious death - it does make you wonder...was it the corporate organisation? The movie puts a touching story about a town that was dealing with the prospect of having to choose between the risk of toxic infection and their livelihood and the tragic story of a woman who had courage to reveal what was happening and the danger that developed from taking a stand. Overall, 7.5/10