Silkwood

Mike Nichols, 1983 (8.3*)
This film is based on a true story and a mystery that has never really been solved. A metallurgy worker named Karen Silkwood (Meryl Streep) begins to notice many safety violations at her Kerr-McGhee nuclear plant, some involving exposing workers to radioactive material. She begins to file complaints and instead of conditions being made safer, she begins to get harassed and threatened as a result. She is contaminated, perhaps on purpose, as are other workers at the plant.

Cher and Kurt Russell play her roommates with credible performances. Cher, Streep, and Nichols were all nominated for Oscars, and Cher won a Golden Globe for supporting actress. With the threat of a possible meltdown looming in Japan, and the question of nuclear plant safety now on the front burner worldwide, this will be an important film to re-watch for many viewers.

Her story has been the subject of an A&E documentary, this film by famed director Mike Nichols, and many other smaller news stories. Her story has been shown to kids in school. The end result is that the nuclear plant was shut down a year later, and many lives in Oklahoma were likely saved as a result. Her story proves that U.S. corporations value the bottom line above people's lives, as if anyone doubted that in light of recent economic developments; in fact, just a few individuals value their own wealth more than the well-being of the nation or even the world.

At IMDB, it's only been rated by 5000+ fans, which is miniscule for such an important film. It always amazes me how when a film gets a couple of decades old, the public entirely loses interest, while in terms of geological time this is not even one second in the history of the earth.