Erin Brockovich

Hook, finding one’s place

Guiding thread: Finding one’s place in the world · Sub-thread: Giving and receiving, we can only give and receive from a place.

Finding one’s place in the world · Young people today

Erin Brockovich has no law degree, but she makes her place by fighting for the families of Hinkley. Today, why do so many young people get involved in the fight for clean water and a safe environment?

Sentence starters

• Erin makes her place by…
• Young people get involved for the environment because…
• One person can make a difference when…
• Fighting for others can give young people…

Erin today. In 2026, the real Erin Brockovich is fighting AI data centres in the USA. See the step Erin today in the Context & history tab.

Visionary filmmakers. Back in 2000, Steven Soderbergh was already showing a town fighting for clean water, long before young people marched for the climate around the world.

Talk about the characters and about young people in general, not about yourself.

Then, a second question:

Can one person without a diploma beat a giant company? And what would you need: evidence, allies, courage, a lawyer, or all of them?

The film in three lines

California, early 1990s. Erin Brockovich, a single mother of three with no legal training, talks her way into a job at the small law firm of Ed Masry. Filing real estate papers, she finds medical records where they should not be. Her investigation leads to Hinkley, a desert town whose groundwater was polluted with hexavalent chromium by the utility PG&E · and to one of the largest settlements of its time: $333 million in 1996.

Your mission: learn the language of the law, investigate the real documents like Erin, interview a client, negotiate a settlement and pitch the case.

Start with the trailerFilm study sheetJustice & the environment

Your route through this study

1. Watch · the trailer, three viewings.
2. Law words · the vocabulary of investigations and law firms (Context tab).
3. Investigate like Erin · document analysis (Context tab).
4. Speak · client interview, settlement meeting, pitch.
5. Write · a case summary and an opinion piece.

Film credits

Film language, with examples from the official trailer

Timecodes refer to the official trailer and are approximate (± 5 s): versions online may differ slightly.

Shots

• ≈0:03close-up on Erin at a job interview: talking fast, all energy
• ≈1:57extreme long shot of a straight desert road with power poles: Hinkley’s isolation
• ≈0:57framing through window blinds: someone is watching, a world of secrets

Angles

• ≈1:15low angle on Erin taking a photo against a wide blue sky: she becomes a strong investigator
• ≈2:03shot / reverse shot at eye level across a meeting table: two sides face each other

Camera movement

• ≈1:09handheld camera follows Erin walking fast through an office

Lighting & colour

• ≈1:57sandy, dusty yellow tones for the desert
• ≈0:27warm lamp light at a kitchen table at night: exhaustion, family life
• ≈2:03cold, neutral office light in the meeting room: the world of corporate lawyers

Sound

• whole trailerthe song “Everyday Is a Winding Road” (Sheryl Crow) carries the rhythm
• ≈2:14a line with a double meaning about water, the punchline of a scene

Editing

• ≈0:15the actress’s name written on screen like handwriting
• whole trailerfast cuts between comedy and serious investigation
• ≈2:03 → 2:15shot / reverse shot: a duel of words

Step into the period

Historical landmarks

• 1952 PG&E starts using hexavalent chromium against corrosion at its Hinkley compressor station (the Water Board gives 1952; the LA Times dates the case to 1951).
• 1952 to 1966 Wastewater is discharged into unlined ponds; part of it reaches the groundwater.
• 1970 The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is created.
• 1972 The Clean Water Act becomes law.
• 1974 The Safe Drinking Water Act protects public drinking water.
• 1987 7 December: PG&E informs the local Water Board of the chromium contamination.
• 1993 Erin Brockovich, a legal clerk for Ed Masry, investigates; more than 600 Hinkley residents file a lawsuit against PG&E (Anderson et al. v. PG&E).
• 1994 to 1996 Binding arbitration: awards of about $121 million to the first 39 plaintiffs, under a $400 million cap.
• 1996 2 July: PG&E agrees to pay $333 million to about 650 plaintiffs.
• 2000 17 March: Erin Brockovich is released.
• 2001 Julia Roberts wins the Oscar for Best Actress.
• 2014 1 July: California sets a drinking-water limit for chromium 6 (10 µg/L).
• 2017 A court invalidates this limit.
• 2024 California adopts a new limit of 10 µg/L (effective 1 October 2024).

Sources: Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board · Los Angeles Times, 3 July 1996 · California State Water Resources Control Board

Official trailer

Official trailer on IMDb

Before you watch

Look at the gallery: a desert, a small town, a courthouse, a woman. Predict the story in three sentences.

First viewing, global understanding

1. What does Erin need at the beginning, and how does she try to get it?
2. Where does she find something strange? What is it?
3. Which chemical is mentioned? Is it dangerous?
4. Erin says: “I hate lawyers. I just…”, how does the sentence end?
5. Why does her boss say she makes the case “personal”? How does she answer?
6. What has Erin collected at the end (“every single one”)?

Second viewing, exact words

1. “Why are there medical records and blood ___ in real estate files?”
2. “Would you mind if I ___ this a little further?”
3. “We’re going to have to spend a little time filling in the ___ in your research.”
4. “For the first time in my life, I got people ___ me.”
5. “$20 million is more money than these people have ever ___ of.”
6. “By the way, we had that ___ brought in special for you folks.”

Third viewing, the water line

At the end of the trailer, Erin’s team offers a glass of water to corporate lawyers: “By the way, we had that water brought in special for you folks.” Explain the irony. Why is it the perfect last line?

Filming an investigation

Light and colour

Compare the warm, dusty tones of Hinkley with the cold light of the meeting room. What do these two palettes say about two worlds?

Law words, the vocabulary of the case

Practise: cover the “Meaning” column and explain each word in your own English.

Investigate like Erin, the real documents

Erin built her case with records, maps and testimonies. Do the same with three real documents.

Document A, the Water Board

Document B, the newspaper

Document C, the map

Look at the map of San Bernardino County and the photo of Barstow in the gallery. Locate Hinkley.

Your case file

1. Who? Name the company and the community.
2. Where? Give the exact location of the compressor station.
3. When? Give the dates of the pollution, the lawsuit and the settlement.
4. What? Name the chemical and explain why it was used.
5. How? Explain step by step how it reached the groundwater.
6. How big? Give the size of the plume.
7. How much? Compare $121 million, $333 million and $400 million: why did PG&E settle?
8. Contradiction check: Documents A and B give different start dates (1952 / 1951). How would a good investigator deal with this?

After the film, the long cleanup

The story did not end in 1996. The Water Board still orders PG&E to contain and clean the plume (Cleanup and Abatement Order R6V-2015-0068). California set a drinking-water limit for chromium 6 in 2014, a court cancelled it in 2017, and a new limit of 10 micrograms per litre took effect on 1 October 2024 (California State Water Resources Control Board).

Fact or film?

The film is based on a true story, but some characters are composites or invented and some events are dramatised. The case was often called a class action; technically, each plaintiff’s claim was handled individually in arbitration.

Erin today, from Hinkley to AI data centres (2026)

Sources: The Guardian, 29 June 2026 (Zoe Williams) · Brockovich Data Center Reporting (Erin Brockovich’s map)

More than 25 years after the film, the real Erin Brockovich has a new fight. In April 2026 she asked people living near AI data centres in the USA to write to her; within a month, 3,862 people replied. With their reports she built an open map of AI data centres across the country. People worry about water (for cooling), energy and higher bills, noise from generators and cooling systems, and secrecy: some towns discover a project only after it has been approved.

1 · Compare: Erin in the film (2000) and Erin today (2026)

2 · Discuss

1. What makes someone keep fighting, whatever the fight?
2. Most people put up with things. What makes a few people decide to act?

Talk about Erin and about people in general, not about yourself.

Task, Erin’s strengths and weaknesses

Find two strengths and two weaknesses of Erin in the trailer. Are her “weaknesses” (she is direct, emotional, unconventional) also strengths in her job?

1 · Investigation report, 2 minutes (continuous speech)

Present your case file (Context tab) to the partners of the firm.

2 · Client interview at a law firm (interaction)

Pairs. A is a paralegal at the firm; B plays a Hinkley resident (an invented character, never yourself). A must collect facts: how long they have lived there, where their water comes from, what they noticed, what documents they have. B answers using only the documents. Swap.

3 · Mock settlement meeting (groups of 4 to 6)

Roles: two plaintiffs’ attorneys, two PG&E attorneys, one arbitrator, one note-taker. Facts on the table: 39 plaintiffs already awarded about $121 million; a cap of $400 million; about 650 plaintiffs. Each side opens (1 minute), then negotiate (6 minutes). The arbitrator summarises. Compare your figure with the real one: $333 million.

4 · Oral pitch, 90 seconds

You are Erin. Convince a big firm to join the case. Hook, facts, emotion, call to action.

5 · Debate, “Should companies always pay for past pollution, even after decades?”

Write

B2 · 200 to 250 words, case summary: Write the memo Erin gives to Ed Masry: facts, evidence, next steps. Use at least eight law words.

B2+ · 280 to 300 words, opinion piece: “Clean water is a right, not a privilege.” Use the Hinkley case.

What this film study trains

• Listening: trailer, three viewings.
• Reading: Water Board and LA Times documents.
• Speaking (continuous): investigation report, pitch.
• Speaking (interaction): client interview, settlement meeting, debate.
• Writing: memo, opinion piece.

Project, “The Hinkley case file”

In groups, build a digital case file: timeline, map, vocabulary, the two documents, a 1-minute video pitch and an interview script. Present it as a law firm presenting to a jury of classmates.

Continue with the Justice & the environment hub: compare Hinkley with Promised Land, Food, Inc. and Super Size Me.

Teacher notes

• Trailer: no rights-holder upload on YouTube (Universal / Sony). Link to the official trailer on IMDb; no embed.
• Axes: 1re « L’être humain et la nature », « Diversité et inclusion » (social class) · Tle « Espace privé et espace public », « Fictions et réalités ».
• Facts: Lahontan Water Board (1952 à 1966, plume 8 × 2 miles); LA Times 3 July 1996 ($333 M, $121 M / 39 plaintiffs, $400 M cap, 650 plaintiffs); State Water Board (chromium 6 limit).
• Thomas Girardi, the plaintiffs’ lawyer quoted by the LA Times, was later disbarred and convicted of stealing clients’ money: not quoted here.
• Optional critical-thinking point for Tle: the science of chromium 6 was itself contested (a 1987 Chinese study and its disputed 1997 “retraction”, prepared by a consulting firm working for PG&E).

Full teacher page (FR) →