Word: silkwood
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...SILKWOOD Directed by Mike Nichols Screenplay by Nora Ephron and Alice Arlen...
...nine years since her death, it has pleased many people to think of Karen Silkwood as a sort of Joan of Arc of the nuclear age, an ignorant peasant lass who was martyred after she heeded the voice of a developing conscience and dared to point out the lack of adequate safety measures and quality controls in a plutonium-recycling plant where she was employed. This facility was owned by a corporate giant (Kerr-McGee) working under a Government contract, and Silkwood died in an auto accident on her way to show a New York Times reporter supposed documentary evidence...
...rather imagines that the people who undertook this task in Silkwood may now wish they had waited until later. For rarely has the desperation to square inspirational myth with provable, nonlibelous reportage been more apparent. And rarely has the failure to do so been more dismaying. All they can say without fear of litigious contradiction is that there were obvious defects...
...MOVIE delicately handles Silkwood's sudden death at age 28, leaving her end appropriately dubious, since no one knows if she was murdered or had a fatal accident. Such judicious writing pervades the entire film, which moves along slowly, giving ample time to make the audience think about the implications of nuclear production...
Streep's haunting singing of "Amazing Grace" at the end can captivate the viewer, as her clear and resounding voice reinforces her naive struggle against the establishment. Silkwood is not an enjoyable movie but is instead painful, especially during the scenes preceding Kevin's death. But on the other hand it plunges into the lives of Karen Silkwood and her friends without sensationalizing the struggle against bigger and more powerful foes. The poignant acting and cinematography make the film flow gently towards its graveyard end, while it is the actual story of Silkwood's life that leaves the deepest impression...