Blow the Whistle

Last night I watched the classic whistleblower film Silkwood (1984). I’d listened intently a week ago to a discussion on Radio National about the nature of whistle blowing and I wondered what I would do if faced with a similar situation.

I had only seen Silkwood the one time on video when I was a young teenager and it deeply affected me then. I’m not sure why I’ve only seen it the once but it seemed appropriate to revisit it this week given that the Federal Government is toying with the idea of selling uranium to China and I had listened to the radio piece just days before.

The film documents the events leading up to the death of Karen Silkwood (Meryl Streep) a young employee of a nuclear facility who was purposefully contaminated and possibly murdered after attempting to expose appalling safety violations.

Streep won best actress as did Cher for her supporting turn as Karen’s sympathetic housemate. Mike Nichols also won for best director and Nora Ephron for best screenplay.

It’s a sad and quiet film; resolute in its depiction of Karen’s pathetic life (a young Kurt Russell is divine as her woebegone boyfriend Drew). It’s only towards the end, when Karen makes the decision that she has no choice but to expose the truth that she realizes that this is what will define her life. She repeats a line used earlier by a Washington union official “there is a moral imperative”.

We all like to think we would do the right thing, but what is the right thing? Can we ever really be sure that the risk is worth taking? I think what is so fascinating about these stories is that in nearly all cases these are very ordinary people who go to extraordinary lengths to expose something they know is wrong often with devestating consequences.

I don’t know what I would do, do you?

Top Five Whistleblower Movies

China Syndrome
The Boiler Room
Silkwood
The Insider
Erin Brockovich

On a lighter note James Rebhorn appears in Silkwood for five minutes at the end…