Karen Silkwood Knew Plenty About The Nuclear Industry, Her Story Is As Terrifying As A Meltdown…
Like most people in her Oklahoma home town, Karen Silkwood worked in a facility that produced highly radioactive plutonium. The plant balanced profits against worker safety, and Karen herself participated in this charade of economic survival…until the inevitable happened to her. Exposed to a lethal dose of plutonium poisoning, Karen faced the indifference and denial of her company.
Too spirited to be silenced, she voiced her protests and became a threat to her company…to an entire industry and the government agencies that monitored it. One day she left to meet with a reporter, intending to blow the whistle on the dangerous practices of her plant. But due to a mysterious car crash, she never got there. Was her death accidental, or was she murdered by powers as potentially lethal as the atom?
(25 votes)
2.
Based on the harrowing account of whistle blower Karen Silkwood, this 1983 film directed by Mike Nichols (The Graduate, Postcards from the Edge) is as much a character study of a woman galvanized by injustice as a story of the dangers of nuclear power and the extremes of corporate greed. When Karen discovers unsafe conditions and reckless protocol at the plant where she works, her actions in uncovering the dangers that lie at the plant not only cause a rift between her and her lover (Kurt Russell) and her best friend (Cher), but they threaten her very life. Streep gives yet another bravura performance as a wild child in Oklahoma forced to confront the harsh realities of her life, and the supporting cast, from Cher to Russell to Diana Scarwid is first rate. This true story of the woman who disappeared under mysterious circumstances while trying to find the truth is a well-told, challenging, and emotionally complex tale. --Robert Lane
(21 votes)
3.
Fairly accurate recounting of the story of Karen Silkwood, the Oklahoma nuclear-plant worker who blew the whistle on dangerous practices at the Kerr-McGee plant and who died under circumstances which are still under debate.
(20 votes)
4.
This dramatic film is based on the true story of Karen Silkwood, a rank-and-file worker at a plutonium factory, who was accidentally exposed to a lethal dose of radiation. Historically, the company downplayed employee's complaints about radiation sickness, much to Karen's frustration. Her own ordeal made Karen an activist. When she was about to go public with evidence of the company's poor safety record, the corporate powers went to extreme lengths to ensure that Karen's story was never told.
(20 votes)
5.
As a tale of self-discovery, Silkwood, Mike Nichols' 1982 biopic of the plutonium factory worker who uncovered negligence and dangerous practices at the heart of her employer's company, works well enough.
Karen Silkwood (Meryl Streep) is no saint. She drinks, cheerfully gets 'em out for the boys, has left her husband and kids and lives in a curious ménage à trois with her lover, (Kurt Russell) and their lesbian friend (Cher). But, through her own dawning suspicions, she is drawn into union activism and embarks on a crusade to expose the rottenness of her paymasters, only to die in a mysterious car crash. And here is the flaw. The film can't decide whether it's quirky soap opera, a campaigning blow for the anti-nuclear lobby or an allegory for the conflict between the rights of the individual and the demands of the corporate giant. It stops short of providing some important conclusions about what really happened to its central character, and why. Streep is fine though, injecting her character with a studied mixture of innate intelligence and trailer park trash. Russell offers solid support and Cher is outstanding as housemate Dolly Pelliker. Their performances give Silkwood its heart as a powerful human drama.
On the DVD:Silkwood is well-served on this DVD release by sharp picture and sound quality (Georges Delerue's poignantly jaunty country and western soundtrack benefits in particular), but the extras are static and add little to the package apart from a strictly "budget" feel: standard biographies of the stars and director with some pretty pointless trivia facts, and a brief history of the production. There's nothing here that even the most generalist of film fans won't already know. A director's commentary explaining why the film loses its bottle in the final reel would be more interesting. --Piers Ford
(20 votes)
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