Pride really does go before a fall.
Despite our current culture's curious mix of rubbernecking fascination and disillusionment with real-life trials (such as the President's impeachment trail and O.J. Simpson's murder case), the wild popularity of John Grisham's books turned movies proves that courtroom dramas remain viable entertainment options--even though they are often predictable and strictly regulated structurally. In this one, Jonathan Harr's best-selling novel is vividly translated on screen as a story of one man's prideful pursuit to win a delicate yet important case at all costs.
Although based on a true story, neither the movie or the book can fully do justice to the account of the lawyer who represented the case of parents in a Woburn, Massachusetts community who lost their children to leukemia caused by local water pollution. For that matter, the book and even more so the movie, are going to fall short of painting the entire picture. Regardless, Zaillan's movie does an admirable job telling a story that deserves to be told.
John Travolta as Jan Schlichtmann is a nearly egomaniacal personal injury lawyer more obsessed with himself, his Porsche, and the pursuit of a fast buck than he is with justice. When initially offered the case, he dismisses it as being both a difficult case to prove and an unwise investment. His greed gets the better of him, however, after returning from a meeting with the parents where he gives them the disappointing news that his firm, like the others before his, will not take the case. After being pulled over by a cop on a Woburn bridge for speeding, he decides to walk along the purportedly polluted river and discovers that two riverside local companies are associated with two of America's largest corporate giants. Transfixed by the possibility of dipping into their bountiful bank accounts, Schlichtmann changes his mind and accepts the ambitious case after all. At first his greatest challenge is an opposing attorney representing Beatrice Foods, played with distinguished skill by Robert Duvall, who was nominated for a Best Actor Oscar last year for his role in The Apostle. We soon learn, however, that Schlichtmann's greatest adversary is himself, and his pride really does precipitate a fall that not only takes himself, but his entire firm down along with him.
Like Zaillian's previous directorial masterpiece, Searching for Bobby Fischer, this movie tensely depicts the challenges of two feuding competitors. Despite the potentially sentimental aspects of A Civil Action's plot, however, the former movie is a bit more engaging and inspirational. The performances of John Travolta and Robert Duvall have been much and rightly lauded since this movie previewed late last year, but William H. Macy as the money man of Schlichtmann's firm is also worthy of special recognition. His initial faith in Schlichtmann's abilities is slowly transformed into desperate folly and then enraged despair. In the end, like his once-trusted colleague, he is also left destitute and broken, and in a powerful scene confronts Schlichtmann with the error of his ways.
A Civil Action marvelously plays the tension between two levels: one is an interesting character story of a man who loses everything because of his pride, but the other is the account of a self-absorbed man ready to be transformed by the sober realities of corporate greed and the consequences of environmental hazards. Among the most poignant scenes is a parent's moving pre-trial testimony about how his son died in his arms on the way to the hospital, and the subsequent defense attorney's haunting conclusion that the victims never be given an opportunity to tell their story from the witness stand. Although Schlichtmann's own pursuit is not driven by truth or justice at first, but by greed and pride, even he is haunted time and again by the solemn events which serves as the backdrop of this piece: a terrible and true tragedy which leads to Schlichtmann's own personal tragedy of almost Ancient Greek proportions. The movie itself, however, is surprisingly unsentimental in most of its portrayal of all the important events, and leaves many conclusions up to the viewer.
With an engaging plot, well-filmed scenes, a taut script, and powerfully portrayed acting, A Civil Action is on many Top Ten Movie lists for good reason.
By Steven Stuart Baldwin (2/25/99)
