FILMS

Mark Ruffalo is the shuffling, dogged Ohio lawyer at the heart of this moody legal drama about one man who’s determined to expose the criminal failings of a major chemical corporation. You might think you’ve watched it all before: , , – American cinema loves a paranoid tale of one man versus The Man. This latest conspiracy thriller – based on real events – fits squarely into that mould, but it also feels urgent and necessary, and avoids grandstanding speeches and melodramatic showdowns. It also works hard to show the effect of these crimes at ground level, on ordinary people, not least one coughing, wrenching farmer whose every ache and groan you feel. Ruffalo is Robert Bilott, a lawyer who has just made partner at his Cincinnati law firm when his rural roots (a source of ribbing at the office)