Director Todd Haynes (“Carol”) may be more familiar to art house audiences, but they are rightfully among the most stylistically confident performers in their field. This is also noticeable in ‘Poisoned Truth’, which airs today, September 5, at 11:45 p.m. on SWR (and without commercial breaks). The fact-based thriller is a real punch to the stomach.
While today’s “Poisoned Truth” TV broadcast (unabridged and ad-free) may actually make you almost perfectly happy, you can also get the movie on Blu-ray and DVD from online retailers like Amazon, and the suspense thriller is also available. be purchased in see the original English version.
That’s what “Toxic Truth” is about
Robert Bilott (Hulk star Mark Ruffalo) is a corporate lawyer and partner at a prestigious Cincinnati law firm primarily engaged in representing major chemical companies. But then suddenly the cattle farmer Wilbur Tennant (Bill Camp) lies on his mat, who has had to watch helplessly in recent years as almost 200 of his animals die a miserable death. So he sees himself as a victim of the illegal disposal of toxic waste by the chemical giant DuPont, which is located on the adjacent property.
Although the law firm is usually on the other side, Bilott’s boss, Tom Terp (Tim Robbins), gives him permission to take on the case and investigate. But the opponent’s lawyer (Victor Garber) reacts unusually aggressively to an initially friendly request. When Bilott finally discovers the magnitude of DuPont’s machinations and the associated dangers to the inhabitants of the region and eventually to all of humanity, the case develops into a life’s work for him…
A concentrated thriller that captivates and disturbs
In the official FILMSTARTS review, “Poisoned Truth” received an impressive 4 stars out of a possible 5. In his conclusion, our author Oliver Kube writes about the film: “Top-notch acting, an excellent script and the appropriately subdued staging provide strong emotions for the shocked audience. This important drama is heartbreaking and so much more than a standard David versus Goliath story.
“Toxic Truth” is based on the New York Time Magazine article “The Lawyer Who Became DuPont’s Worst Nightmare” by Nathaniel Rich, which found that 99% of people have perfluorooctanoic acid in their blood. This is the so-called “forever chemical” that is used to make Teflon for non-stick frying pans because of its stability. If residues enter the organism of animals or humans, it can be very carcinogenic.
Not only does the film want to show how Mark Ruffalo’s beautifully subdued and ultimately desperately played Robert Bilott took on the chemical giant, He also takes a lot of time to describe the background and explain how it could happen that 99% of all people now have this chemical in their blood. Director Todd Haynes stages this without frills and always focuses on the essentials, which is particularly praised in our review:
“Fortunately, there are no clever camera gimmicks, no black-and-white sequences, no occasional increased tempo, no thunderstorm of fragments, nor jumbled chronological order or other stylistic devices. […] The director simply relies on the oppressively gloomy atmosphere of oppression and menace created by subdued lighting and the occasional blue filter to retell the facts in a very simple and completely chronological way.