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From: lcliffor@bbncca.ARPA (Laura Frank Clifford)
Newsgroups: net.movies
Subject: Silkwood
Message-ID: <399@bbncca.ARPA>
Date: Mon, 19-Dec-83 13:28:48 EST
Article-I.D.: bbncca.399
Posted: Mon Dec 19 13:28:48 1983
Date-Received: Tue, 20-Dec-83 00:28:40 EST
Organization: Bolt, Beranek and Newman, Cambridge, Ma.
Lines: 29

Silkwood  is  a  low-key  film  about  a  bunch of middle class people
plodding along from day to day  working  in  a  high-risk  environment
which   they   have   taken   for  granted.   The  film  portrays  the
all-too-common American  philosophy  "It's  really  not  there  if  it
doesn't  jump  up and bite me." People are far more concerned with the
everyday things, such as having a steady job and  a  steady  paycheck,
than with untangible things such as death by exposure to radiation. 

Karen  Silkwood  (Meryl Streep) works for Kerr-McGee in Oklahoma.  She
lives and works with her boyfriend (Kurt Russell), and  Dolly  (Cher).
She  visits  her  3 kids (the result of a common-law mariage) who live
with their father in Texas whenever she can.  She flirts with the guys
at work, steals parts of other people's lunches, and  shows  affection
for an older co-worker, Thelma, who wears silly-looking wigs and has a
daughter who has cancer. 

One  work  day  Thelma gets "cooked" (exposed to radiation), and Karen
breaks into the shower room where Thelma is being scrubbed  down  with
steel-wire  brushes.   Karen  tries  to  comfort Thelma, but Thelma is
hysterical and sure that she will get cancer.  This is maybe the first
time Karen really thinks about safety conditions in  her  work  place.
However,  it  is  Karen's  own  exposure  which  really jolts her into
action. 

Another  perfect  performance  from  Meryl  Streep as Karen Silkwood -
thank God Fonda didn't play the part, as was originally planned.  Kurt
Russell  and Cher both turn in solid performances.  The movie is, as I
said earlier, very low-key and  slowly  paced.   The  quality  of  the
acting is what makes the film work so well.