Radium Girls

 

Movie, 2020, NR

 

Premise - The cinematic adaptation of the true story of the Radium Girls, a group of dial painters who fought back against the toxic Radium Dial Company. While names and events have been fictionalized, the story of real, young women taking legal action against the Radium Dial Company is true. These women were assured that radium was a safe substance, and subsequently poisoned to an inevitable death, and took legal action in their dying fight for justice.

 

Review - Honestly, just read the book version that documents the same events much more accurately. The film is alright, but the names of the women are not even real. The characters are not even real. The film also could not get across the pure horror of the gory effects of the radium, especially with such a low budget film with poor makeup. The benefit of a film is it is supposed to be much more visually visceral, but believe me, the book's descriptions of gore beat this half-assed attempt at makeup any day. The film is not exciting or engaging in the way a film should be either. 

 

I liked the inclusion of race, communism, politics, and uprisings that were occurring in conjunction with the anti-capitalist Radium Dial legal case though, that context was really helpful (49/100)

 

Quote - "Lip, dip, paint"

 

What to watch for - The main actress is the most famous.

 

If you liked this movie, I'd recommend The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women by Kate Moore! I reviewed here: http://narrativemultiverse.blogspot.com/2020/01/the-radium-girls-dark-story-of-americas.html 

 

Directed by Lydia Dean Pilcher and Ginny Mohler

Distributed by Juno Films