Sherine Yousery What does your own hero look like ?How do you judge people ?When should you let go ? And when should you stick around ?With "amazing grace", the beautiful Meryl Streep and Karen Silkwood have both tried to answer our questions. This wonderful movie wasn't about Silkwood's bravery in demanding people's absolutely basic rights only.Most of people judge others by their own definition of "honour". You tell a friend about how this woman sleeps with everyone and the word goes on about how this promiscuous woman is a devil. This portrayal of Karen Silkwood will definitely conquer your image and your ways of judgment. As you can see her life ends, you'll know what really matters in life and what real honour looks like. You'll know that each one of us has their own demons, and some more than others, maybe for the bigger part, because they've witnessed what the rest didn't in their lives. You can never judge this woman saying she left her children when she's fighting for the framed pictures they're taking from her as they've found her house's contaminated, you can never judge her emotional and sexual behaviour when you see the look - to Drew- in her eyes before she dies and you can never judge the quality of her life given her psychological disturbance. This beautiful woman fought for what really matters in this life: end of fear .. end of blackmail for money and food. She's a hero by all means, defying all sorts of authorities with absolutely no support most of the time. You can see the struggles of being with someone who wouldn't save the world like you're trying to, but turns out to love you as you are with all your demons. The real lesson for most people in this movie was about bravery and courage, but for me, it was mostly about acceptance, judgment and what really matters in this life.I can't thank Meryl Streep, Cher, Kurt Russel and Director Mike Nichols enough for this masterpiece, especially the ever-amazing and graceful, Mrs Streep .. You've taught me more than I've ever learnt from anybody in my own life.

tieman64 This is a review of "Silkwood" and "Norma Rae", two of the more famous "women's pictures" of the 1980s. The better of the two, "Norma Rae" stars Sally Field as Norma Rae, a textile worker in small town North Carolina. Director Martin Ritt delves into Norma's social and home life, highlights the exploitation of both Norma and her fellow workers, and then introduces Norma to a Jewish unionist played by Ron Leibman. Ron teaches Norma the importance of solidarity, worker rights and battling for betterment. Sally, meanwhile, reveals herself to be a headstrong, blue-collar warrior; the brawn behind Leibman's brains.While "Norma Rae" does trivialise (it champions a "fairer capitalism", rather than examine the contradictions of capitalism itself), it does contain a number of good passages, most of which either compare Ron and Norma's differing social backgrounds or show the textile bosses strategically promoting dissenters and so pitting workers against workers. John Alonzo's cinematography is pitch perfect, gritty, intimate and pseudo-documentarian.Some have complained that "Norma Rae" is uncritical of unions, that the film neglects to mention that Norma's textile plant promptly shut down, and then go so far as to suggest that "unions are bad" because they "end jobs" and "chase jobs offshore". We see similar arguments today, banks, and the financial sector as a whole, which proclaim themselves as being "indespensible", threatening to pack up and leave countries if taxes are raised or stricter measures are put in place. Such things are typically used as "proof" for the benefits of less regulation. In reality, it's tantamount to blackmail.Directed by Mike Nichols, "Silkwood", another blue-collar whistle-blower picture, stars Meryl Streep as Karen Silkwood, a lowly worker at an Oklahoma nuclear facility. Along with her best friends (played by Kurt Russell and Cher), Karen begins to gather proof of her company's copious wrongdoings, which include poor safety measures, employee exploitation and radiation spills. Like "Norma Rae", the company bosses attempt to fight back, but can't seem to counter Karen's grit and determination. Both film's are overly sentimental, deal in very broad stereotypes (bad bosses, good exploited workers, saintly activists etc), but mask their deficiencies well with their low-key tones, naturalistic acting and strong, small town atmosphere. Their ancestors are King Vidor's "Our Daily Bread" and Michael Wilson's "Salt of the Earth". Their children are everything from "Matewan" to "North Country" to "Erin Brokovich" to "The Insider" to Ken Loach's underrated "Bread and Roses". The tale's familiar, and is habitually resuscitated every now and then.Unlike most films in this genre, "Silkwood's" hero is actively stalked, hounded and murdered by the shadowy corporations she locks horns with. In real life, the nuclear facility at which Karen worked (Kerr-McGee) was rumoured to have strong ties to the US Government, the CIA and the NIA. As Karen was about to whistle-blow on the illegal sale of nuclear grade plutonium, some believe she was assassinated. In the 1970s, women like her spearheaded the anti-nuclear movement, which has been successful in stopping the construction of nuclear plants, which even today are constantly being offered as "clean", "carbon free", "reliable energy sources".8/10 - Overrated, simplistic, but well acted. Worth one viewing. See "Bread and Roses".

mitch_e33 Set in a small rural town in Oklahoma, 'Silkwood' (1983) follows Karen Silkwood's (Meryl Streep) quest to reveal the truth about the local nuclear power plant she works at. Based upon a true story, Karen is killed in a car accident on her way to meet an editor of the New York Times who was going to help her expose the truth. Living with her boyfriend Drew (Kurt Russell) and friend Dolly (Cher), Karen, a technician in the plant, sees her life turned upside down after she tests positive for radiation poisoning. After she is subsequently moved to a different department, Karen quickly becomes suspicious that the company is putting worker's health at risk in order to fulfill million dollar contracts. A suspicion that ultimately leads to her death. Directed by Mike Nichols, direction for which earned him an Oscar nomination, Silkwood is for the large part a believable, thrilling and touching film. The script by Nora Ephron and Alice Arlen is given life by the two lead actresses, Streep and Cher, both of which gained Oscar nominations for their performances for the high amount of depth and humanity exhibited in each of their characters. At times, however the plot seemed to drag slightly, and Kurt Russell was given little room for character development playing the stereotypical southern blue collar worker, but these are minor criticisms. The bigger problem with this film is the structure. As the audience is let known beforehand that Karen will die at some point, the tension that builds quite effectively through the film is wasted somewhat by a anti-climactic end. A problem that seems to undermine many thrillers/dramas that are based upon true stories as the spoiler is given before the film. Nonetheless, Silkwood is a high quality film and Meryl Streep gives yet another Oscar nominated performance (her 5th at the time) and with her co-star Cher they help lift a film that otherwise may have lacked. 7/10

pinkst01 This is a very detailed story of how Karen Silkwood, worked for a Oklahoma nuclear plant named, Kerr-Mcghee. Karen was polluted by the plutonium intentionally, to keep her quite, as she exposed the many faulty activities being performed at this plant.Karen lived with her boyfriend Drew and friend Dolly, who all worked at the same nuclear plant. Dolly is a lesbian, and decides to move her girlfriend in with Dolly, Karen and Drew. Drew decided to quit because of the dangers of the plant and the issues his girlfriend Karen was bringing to the surface about the plant. Dolly continued to work at the plant along with Karen. Drew later leaves Karen also, because she will not stop with her accusations about the plant. Dolly's girlfriend moves out not long after Drew. If the employees were contaminated the process was miserable. Once it has been detected that you are contaminated a loud siren goes off as the red light flashes around the room you are in. Instantly you are escorted to the contamination room, where you are stripped and hosed down with what looked to be hard water. Your skin is then brutally scrubbed with a bristled brush as another person is hosing you down with water. The viewer can tell the antagonizing pain the person is in by the tone of their skin turning fiery red. All the employees hoped to not face this horrible situation. When Thelma was contaminated, Karen took it personally, constantly asked her if the nuclear plant was taken the appropriate steps necessary after the contamination. Karen started producing a bad name, being involved in Thelma's business. Karen made accusations that there were a lot of liars in management at the plant and one of the managers, Hurley over heard her. The first time Karen was contaminated with plutonium, she was transferred to the Metalography department. Karen would be brand new to this department and she was upset that she would not be able to acquire the over-time that she could in the department she came from. While working for this department she noticed that Winston, who is head of Metalography, was tracing the white spots in the negatives of the film, which could be defects in the weld. This seemed like a true cover up to Karen and she wanted to look into it further. The company was not totally clear to its employees of the possible effects to the quality of life one may have after being contaminated. Karen took it upon herself to do the research and later discovered that if she had more children they may have genetic defects and there was a possibility of being infected with Cancer, if you have been exposed to plutonium as Karen had been. This disturbed Karen, so she became more involved with Kerr-Mcghee's union. Karen was eager to exploit the mischief of this plant by any means necessary, one may still be eager to know if she lost her life trying to obtain this major goal she set out for herself.