Michael Lee Avery

Personally, I was absorbed and horrified by this film about corporate greed. Knowing nothing about the source material, I was surprised to see an iconic household product and company named and shamed as a destroyer of whole areas of the US state of beautiful West Virginia and so many good, ordinary people. Think John Denver and “Country Roads”. One feels it must be fictionalised but the company is named and shamed and the successful law suits against them are referenced. As the story unfolds and the greed and damage is exposed, one must wonder how true it is. And yet, here it is on the big screen, taking on corporate America. Presumably, the production company has many well paid lawyers advising them how far the law will allow them to go. I felt the performances, on all sides, were exemplary and Mark Ruffalo and Anne Hathaway, as lawyer Rob Billot and his wife awe were very persuasive. I found the film engaging, gripping, frustrating, worrying. I think anyone with any kind of social conscience should see it and learn.