Plot Details: This opinion reveals major details about the movie's plot.

There are actors whose names I hear, and I think, "Wow, they're a great actor..." And I've never seen a SINGLE movie they've been in. It just becomes part of my consciousness that they're a great actor, so it must be so. Now that I'm writing this, I'm trying to think of some--Laurence Olivier, George C. Scott, Peter O'Tooele...all of whom I know I regard in my pea-brain as great actors, but I don't THINK I've seen any of them in anything! It applies to women as well--up until last year, when I deliberately saw "Sophie's Choice" to remedy this...Meryl Streep. I know she's supposed to be this amazing actress, but I hadn't SEEN her in anything. After "Sophie's Choice," I heard there was another one I had to see: "Silkwood."

The story, based on actual events in 1973, follows Karen Silkwood, an Oklahoma nuclear plant worker who becomes a labor activist and whistleblower who alerts the government to sloppy safety conditions at her plant. She's alienated by her co-workers (who don't want to lose their jobs), her boyfriend (who doesn't enjoy the new, independent, "b!tchy" Karen), and her friend Dolly (who sees Karen falling apart and ruining their home). When Karen decides, despite all these things, to continue her investigation into the safety problems at the plant, it hits the fan.

The movie is very much like "Erin Brockovich"....except that Karen doesn't have the support Erin did. She doesn't work for a lawyer, she doesn't get the acclaim, she doesn't have the legs... This is a much harder movie to watch than "Erin Brockovich," but in ways it's more rewarding. With all of the economic problems facing these people in the early 1970's, we keenly feel their hardship. Looking at the homes they lived in, the cars they drive, the family relationships they're struggling to keep together--the life or death of the PLANT is their own life or death as well. It's not that they don't like Karen....but they need paychecks more than they need their friend. Karen goes it alone, and it's difficult to watch.

The acting here is superb. Sometimes I have a hard time relating to characters from depressed areas, because either 1) I see them as White Trash, or 2) I fear that I'm so close to it myself that I could be seeing a vision of my own future. Seeing Meryl as Karen, Kurt Russell as her boyfriend Drew, and perhaps especially Cher as Dolly, I gained respect for all three actors....three actors for whom I probably had no respect before seeing it. Cher, by the way, looks like the NASTIEST trash ever vomited up by a trailer park. It's STUNNING. Kurt does too, but here he actually looks much better than Cher, so hey. The characters, and the relationship between the three, are realistic, and the performances from the actors are strong. The much-needed comic relief is hilarious when it comes, but the drama and the tragedy inherent in the true story is never shortchanged. This is a movie that FEELS complete, although the true circumstances of the events of the movie will remain forever cloaked in shadow.

If you enjoyed Erin Brockovich, if you enjoy that sense of moral outrage when you hear about how big business always wins at the expense of the Little Guy, if you've ever cared about those little WhistleBlower stories you get on "60 Minutes," you'll enjoy this film. Even if you didn't enjoy any of those, but you're in the mood for a strong, passionate movie with strong acting and direction, instead of the usual fluff that's probably on your movie shelf right now...you'll enjoy this movie. Every once in a while even *I* need something a little stronger than "Attack of the Clones." This is it.


Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD