['The', 'Wall', 'Street', 'Journal', ' ', 'Wednesday.', 'December', '23,', '1998', ' ', 'Hollywood', 'vs.', 'the', 'Truth', 'By', 'WaLTER', 'OLSON', 'The', 'publicists', 'at', 'Disney/Touchstene', 'have', 'been', 'collecting', 'accoiates', 'for', 'the', 'pur-', 'ported', 'nuance', 'and', 'subllety', 'of', 'their', 'new', 'courtroom', 'drama,', '“A', 'Civil', 'Action.”', 'Daily', 'Variety', 'admires', 'its', '“moral', 'ambiguity”', 'and', 'jack', 'of', '“clear-cut', 'heroes', 'and', 'villains,”', 'while', 'the', 'Hollywood', 'Reporter', 'finds', 'it', '“complex”', 'and', '“sophisticated.”', 'To', 'New', 'York', 'Times', 'correspondent', 'Carey', 'Goid-', 'berg,', 'the', "film's", 'version', 'of', 'reality', '“is', 'not', 'a', 'comfortable', 'or', 'a', 'simple', 'one.”', 'Hf', 'the', 'film', 'really', 'does', 'transcend', 'the', 'good-guy-bad-guy', 'genre,', 'semeone', 'forgot', 'to', 'tell', 'the', 'Houston', 'Chronicle', '{here', 'John', 'Travolta', '“duels', 'with', 'two', 'ruthless', 'mega-', 'corporations', 'over', 'a', 'lethal', 'chemical', 'spill”)', 'or', 'George', 'magazine', '{action', 'filed', 'after', '“chiléren', 'have', 'been', 'devastated', 'by', 'indus-', 'trig]', 'pollution”).', 'Ambiguity?', 'Moral', 'complication?', 'En-', 'viro', 'campaigners', 'are', 'already', 'planning', 'tie-', 'in', 'evenis', 'to', 'rally', 'the', 'troops,', 'while', 'The', 'Pro-', 'gressive', 'is', 'hoping', 'the', 'movie', '(Robert', 'Red-', 'ford,', 'co-producer)', 'will', 'revive', 'trial', 'lawyers’', 'image', 'and', 'fuel', 'puble', 'anger', 'at', 'big', 'busi-', 'nes.', 'Greyseale', 'cinemategraphy', 'aside,', '“A', 'Civil', 'Action’s”', 'vaunted', 'moral', 'complexity', 'consisis', 'mainly', 'in', 'assigning', 'its', 'hero', 'some', 'foibles', 'and', 'his', 'chief', 'antagonist', 'some', 'pood', 'points.', 'When', 'you', 'reach', 'the', 'issue', 'over', 'which', 'they', 'fought', 'for', 'eight', 'years—did', 'the', 'defendants’', 'actions,', 'in', 'fact,', 'li', 'eight', 'resi-', 'dents', 'of', 'Woburn,', 'Mass.?—evenhanded-', 'ness', 'is', 'nowhere', 'in', 'sight.', 'The', 'flim', 'encour-', 'ages', 'Viewers', 'to', 'assume', 'that', 'of', 'course', 'the', 'victim-families', 'deserved', 'to', 'nail', 'the', 'corpo-', 'rate', 'dejendants—a', 'proposition', 'disputable', 'at', 'the', 'time', 'dhe', 'Woburn', 'plaintiffs', 'never', 'reached', 'trial', 'en', 'the', 'ultimate', 'issue,', 'and', 'fared', 'relatively', 'poorly', 'on', 'interim', 'jury', 'findings},', 'which', 'looks', 'even', 'more', 'dubieus', 'in', 'retrospect.', 'fo', 'be', 'sure,', 'oversimplification', 'is', 'in-', 'evilable', 'in', 'trying', 'to', 'recount', 'the', 'tangled', 'fawsuit', 'detalled', 'In', 'Jonathan', "Harr's", 'best-', 'seller,', 'or', 'the', 'history', 'thal', 'led', 'up', 'to', 'it.', 'Long', 'the', 'American', 'capital', 'of', 'leather-lanning,', 'a', 'famously', 'blightful', 'trade,', 'Woburn', 'later', 'di-', 'versified', 'inte', 'insecticides', 'and', 'soon', 'sported', 'chromium', 'lagoons', 'and', 'an', 'arsenic', 'pit', 'to', 'go', 'with', 'its', 'mounds', 'of', 'discarded', 'animal', 'waste', '{*remediated”', 'in', 'recent', 'years).', 'In', 'i958', 'an', 'engineer', 'warned', 'that', 'the', 'Aberjona', 'River', 'was', 'far', 'too', 'polluted', 'to', 'be', 'used', 'fer', 'drinking', 'water,', 'yet', 'town', 'officials', 'a', 'ew', 'years', 'later', 'ignored', 'his', 'report', 'and', 'sank', 'two', 'wells.', 'Res-', 'idents', 'at', 'once', 'complained', 'of', 'the', "water's", 'foul', 'color,', 'taste', 'and', 'odor.', 'There', 'followed', 'a', '“eluster”', 'of', 'leukemia', 'cases', 'within', 'a', 'few', 'years', 'centered', 'on', 'East', 'Woburn.', 'The', 'wells', 'were', 'closed', 'afer', 'they', 'were', 'found', 'to', 'con-', 'iain', 'high', 'levels', 'uf', 'trichloroethylene', '{PCE},', 'an', 'industrial', 'solvent.', 'Attorney', 'Jan', 'Schlichimann,', 'writes', 'Mr.', 'Harr,', '“could', 'not', 'even', 'pronounce', 'the', 'names', 'of', 'the', 'chemicals', 'in', 'the', 'Weburn', 'wells,', 'but', 'he', 'felt', 'instinctively', 'that', 'they', 'probably', 'had', 'caused', 'the', 'chuster', 'of', 'leukemias.“', 'A', 'reason-', 'able', 'enough', 'supposition.', "you'd", 'think,', 'Yet', 'instinct', 'is', 'a', 'poor', 'guide', 'in', 'assessing', 'resi-', 'dential', 'cancer', 'clusters,', 'which', 'despite', 'In-', 'tense', 'study', 'and', 'popular', 'assumptions', 're-', 'main', 'stubbornly', 'difficult', 'to', 'Unk', 'te', 'syn-', 'thetic', 'chemicals', 'in', 'the', 'air,', 'soil', 'and', 'water.', 'When', 'not', 'arising', 'from', 'viruses', 'or', 'other', 'con-', 'tagion,', 'most', '#', 'not', 'all', 'such', 'clusters', 'seer', 'to', 'be', 'the', 'result', 'of', 'simple', 'chance-', 'But', 'Mr.', 'Schlichtmann', '(played', 'in', 'the', 'movie', 'by', 'Mr.', 'Travolta)', 'fixed', 'early', 'on', '2', 'TCE', 'theory', 'of', 'the', 'case.', 'He', 'proceeded', 'on', 'the', 'families’', 'behalf', 'to', 'sue', 'not', 'the', 'city,', 'nor', 'any', 'of', 'various', 'locally', 'owned', 'polluters,', 'but', 'the', 'two', 'deep-pocke!', 'national', 'companies', 'on', 'the', 'scene,', 'Beatrice', 'Foods', 'and', 'W.R.', 'Grace', 'ias', 'well', 'as', 'a', 'third', 'company', 'that', 'setiled', 'be-', 'fore', 'trial}.', 'Both', 'defendants', 'argued', 'thai', 'the', 'TCE', 'in', 'the', 'wells', 'was', 'not', 'theirs,', 'Beatrice', 'because', 'its', 'tannery', 'hed', 'no', 'record', 'of', 'having', 'used', 'the', 'substance,', 'Grare', 'because', 'its', 'packag-', 'ing-machinery', 'plant', 'was', 'too', 'far', 'away.', 'Bui', '  ', 'A', 'John', 'Travolia', '{1.3', 'confronts', 'evil', 'polluters', 'in', '“A', 'Giotf', 'Action”', 'the', 'companies’', 'ultimate', 'and', 'more', 'impor-', 'tant', 'defense', 'was', 'that', 'the', 'concentrations', 'of', 'TCE', 'found', 'in', 'the', 'wells', 'were', 'far', 'leo', 'low', 'fo', 'have', 'caused', 'the', 'health', 'effects', 'alleped,', 'The', 'defendants', 'lined', 'up', 's', 'parade', 'of', 'distin-', 'guished', 'experts', 'to', 'back', 'up', 'this', 'assertion,', 'and', 'those', 'experts’', 'opinion', 'has', 'warn', 'well', 'with', 'time:', 'Later', 'studies', 'have', 'steadily', 'Jess-', 'ened', 'fears', 'of', 'a', 'link', 'between', 'TCE', 'and', 'ieukemias', 'or', 'other', 'human', 'cancers.', 'The', "film's", 'pivotal', 'scene', 'on', 'this', 'poini', 'strikes', 'a', 'false,', 'tinny', 'note.', 'Grace’s', 'lawyer,', 'trying', 'te', 'buck', 'up', 'a', 'doubtful', 'employee-wit-', 'ness,', 'is', 'shown', 'reassuring', 'him', 'that', 'the', 'well', 'water', 'didn’t', 'cause', 'the', 'leukemia.', '“How', 'do', 'you', 'know?”', 'the', 'worker', 'asks.', '“I', 'just', 'do,”', 'the', 'jawyer', '{played', 'by', 'Bruce', 'Norris}', 'replies', 'in', 'petulen?', 'ones.', 'The', 'preview', 'au-', 'dience', 'langhed', 'in', 'contempt—the', "movie's", 'one', 'laugh', 'line—and', 'the', 'damage', 'was', 'done,', 'notwithstanding', 'a', 'token', 'comment', 'or', 'two', 'jater', 'about', 'questions', 'of', 'concentration', 'and', 'dosage.', 'Readers', 'af', 'the', 'book', 'will', 'have', 'trouble', 're-', 'calling', 'the', '“I', 'just', 'do”', 'line,', 'for', 'a', 'good', 'rea-', 'son:', 'It', "isn't", 'in', 'the', 'book.', 'Wiliam', 'Cheese-', 'andar,', 'Uety', ' ', 'man,', 'the', 'Grace', 'lawyer', 'portrayed', 'in', 'the', 'geene,', 'Says', 'it', 'never', 'happened.', 'in', 'some', 'respects,', 'the', 'one-sidedness', 'of', 'the', 'film', 'merely', 'reflects', 'that', 'of', 'the', 'book,', 'a', "plaintiff's-eye", 'view', 'that', 'made', 'litle', 'effort', 'to', 'jay', 'out', 'ihe', 'defense', 'logic', 'in', 'any', 'sus-', 'tained', 'way.', 'Still,', 'if', 'was', 'tempting', 'ts', 'make', 'a', 'game', 'af', 'caiching', 'the', 'Rlummakers', 'adding', 'their', 'own', 'little', 'flourishes.', 'For', 'instance,', 'when', 'a', 'plant', 'manager', 'testifies', 'that', 'the', 'one-time', 'dump', 'site', 'is', 'gcing', 'te', 'be', 'rededi-', 'eated', 'to', 'conservation', 'use,', 'Mr.', 'Travolta', 'im-', 'presses', 'the', 'jury', 'by', 'retorling', 'that', 'it', "won't", 'be', 'easy,', 'since', 'noi', 'a', 'ving', 'thing', 'grows', 'en', 'the', 'land—a', 'potion', 'contradicted', 'by', 'the', 'book,', 'by', 'real', 'life,', 'and', 'even', 'by', 'earlier', 'scenes', 'of', 'the', 'movie,', 'which', 'showed', 'ardi-', 'nary', 'vegetation.', 'Like', 'the', 'book,', 'the', 'film', 'does', 'well', 'at', 'cap-', 'furing', 'many', 'imporlant', '“ground-level”', 'truths', 'about', 'litigation:', 'its', 'psychological', 'wear', 'and', 'tear', 'as', 'fortunes', 'veer', 'from', 'one', 'camp', 'Lo', 'the', 'other,', 'its', 'war-like', 'escalation', 'of', 'expense,', 'is', 'witness-ceaching', 'and', 'per', 'juries,', 'its', 'delays', 'and', 'uncertainties.', "“It's", 'hard', 'to', 'Tecall', 'a', 'Tecent', 'American', 'movie', 'that', 'has', 'disciosed', 'with', 'such', 'bluntness', 'the', 'inner,', 'shabby', 'workings', 'of', 'the', 'legal', 'profes-', 'sion,”', 'says', 'Variety.', 'Protagonist', 'Schlichi-', 'mann', 'himself', '“now', 'sees', 'the', 'kind', 'of', 'take-', 'no-prisoners', 'Hiigation', 'he', 'practiced', 'in', 'the', 'Woburn', 'case', 'as', 'a', 'great', 'mistake,', 'and', 'says', 'as', 'much', 'at', 'public', 'speaking', 'engagements,”', 'reports', 'Ms.', 'Goldberg', 'in', 'the', 'Times:', '“2', 'just', 'tame', 'to', 'appreciate', 'how', 'wasteful', 'and', 'de-', 'structive', 'itigation', 'can', 'be.”', 'Nothing,', 'however,', 'justifies', 'the', 'film’s', 'shabby', 'treatment', 'cof', 'Mr.', 'Cheeseman,', 'a', 'well-spoken', 'partner', 'al', "Boston's", 'Foley,', 'Hoag', '&', 'Ellet', 'who', 'gets', 'portrayed', 'in', 'the', 'film', '(but', 'not', 'the', 'book}', 'as', 'a', 'figure', 'of', 'deri-', 'sion,', 'an', 'ethically', 'Inert', 'bumbier', 'who', 'can’t', 'keep', 'fellow', 'lawyers', 'from', 'making', 'fun', 'of', 'his', 'name', 'and', 'is', 'heard', 'mumbling', 'snob-', 'bishly', 'that', '“there', 'was', 'a', 'Cheeseman', 'on', 'the', 'Mayflower”', 'ithe', 'real', 'Cheeseman', 'is', 'the', 'grandson', 'of', 'immigrants).', 'The', 'film-', 'makers,', 'as', 'it', 'happened,', 'were', 'pumping', 'up', 'ihe', 'role', 'of', 'Beatrice', 'lawyer', 'Jerome', 'Facher', '(Hale', '&', 'Dorr}', 'into', 'a', 'bigger', 'and', 'more', 'sympathetic', 'character', 'han', 'it', 'had', 'been', 'in', 'the', 'book,', 'thus', 'providing', 'Robert', 'Duvall', 'with', 'a', 'juicy', 'acting', 'opportunity:', 'perhaps', 'to', 'maintain', 'seme', 'sort', 'of', 'ecologi-', 'tal', 'balance,', 'they', 'trashed', 'his', 'counterpart', 'at', 'Grace.', 'A', 'company', 'as', 'big', 'as', 'Disney,', 'it', 'seems,', 'can,', 'Guiliver-like,', 'hold', 'named', 'real-life', 'people', 'up', 'to', 'the', 'light', 'and', 'turn', 'them', 'this', 'way', 'and', 'thal', 'as', 'scriptwriting', 'whimsy', 'strikes,', 'knowing', "they're", 'essentially', 'pewer-', 'jess', '(even', 'the', 'lawyers', 'among', 'them)', 'io', 'stay', 'out', 'of', 'the', 'way', 'of', 'the', 'sporl.', 'Mr.', 'Cheeseman:', 'takes', 'this', 'with', 'good', 'humor,', 'which', 'is', 'more', 'than', 'many', 'would', 'de', 'in', 'his', 'place,', 'Morai', 'complexity', 'indeed.', ';', 'we.', 'Dison', 'tea', 'senior', 'Elo', ';', 'Egtign', 'Institute.', 'é£9999¢9']