ERIN BROKOVICH

 Erin Brockovich, a single parent of three children.

Matthew – 8 years Katie – 6years Beth – 10 months
While organizing some paperwork pertaining to real estate cases, she is
puzzled when she notices medical records in one of the files. On a whim, she
does a little investigating of her own, and comes to suspect that land
purchased by Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) is the same land on which
chromium contamination resulted from PG&E's environmentally irresponsible
actions.
Examination of local water records and interviews with residents ill from
exposure to poisonous chromium confirm Erin's suspicions, but the pursuit of
legal proceedings against PG&E would seem beyond the capabilities of the
small law firm she works at.
 Examination of local water records and interviews with residents ill from
exposure to poisonous chromium confirm Erin's suspicions, but the pursuit of
legal proceedings against PG&E would seem beyond the capabilities of the small
law firm she works at.
 Erin succeeds in making her boss, Ed Masry as passionate about the case as she
is, and he takes it on. Both Ed and Erin make great sacrifices, and the round-the-
clock work takes Erin out of touch with both her boyfriend and her kids.
 Erin's kids resent the lack of attention from her, and her attempts to explain the
merits of what she is doing to her eldest son are futile but, one day her eldest son
across one of the many documents pertaining to the PG&E case. He reads of a
child his own age who is very ill and knowing that Erin's work will help this child,
asks her why the child's mother cannot provide the needed help. When Erin
explains that it is because the child's mother is very ill, too, her son, for the first
time, appreciates the nature and importance of Erin's work.
 In the end, Ed and Erin won the case for the Hinkley residents. It was ruled by a
judge that PG&E had to pay the plaintiffs $333 million dollars. It ended happily
with the Jensen family receiving five million dollars and Erin received a bonus
check of two million dollars. Erin was underestimated but proved herself to be a
hardworking woman that was able to take down a successful company.
CHARACTER
1.ERIN BROKOVICH
 Erin was a young, twice divorced mother of three who was struggling to
support her family. With little legal expertise, Erin began working for a law
firm.
 She started an investigation to take down corporate giant PG&E
Company for contaminating the water supply of the small town
of Hinkley, California with Chromium VI.
2. ED MASRY
 Boss of Erin; owns his own law firm.
 Lawyer who supported the case to bring down the PG&E Company
 First impression of Erin was “a dumb hick” who “looks like someone who
has a lot of fun”
 Smart man, but is unwilling to speak up, so Erin does
 Rewards Erin greatly at the end of the movie with a large sum of money
3. GEORGE
 George becomes Erin’s boyfriend and he helps take care of her children
while she worked on the PG&E case.
 In a motorcycle crew
 Nice and caring man
 Treats kids and Erin with respects

4. DONNA JENSEN
 Donna is suffering from cancer and is one of the plaintiffs who files a lawsuit
against PG&E.
 Erin wanted to find out why PG&E needed to know their medical records and
what it had to do with selling a house.
5. MANDY ROBINSON
 A Hinkley resident who suffered five miscarriages and suspects this to
be because of the contaminated water.

6. CHARLES EMBRY
 Meets Erin in the beginning of the movie – seen as weird, creepy man
 Erin meets him again at a bar
 He tells her that he worked at the Hinkley plant cleaning the cooling
towers and he was told to destroy certain documents
How was Critical Thinking demonstrated in this film?
The position of Erin is as a single mother of three children and she works in
the lawsuit office. She can prove that she can be equal as other people. She
can balance her position as a mother even though she must work in the office.
Erin which loves and tries to be a good mother even though at that time she is
busy with her work. It can be shown when Erin is still unemployment and she
does not have much money.
So when she eats in the restaurant with her children she lets her children to
order any kind of food that they want and she only order a cup of coffee. She
lies to her children if she has stuffed after celebrating her win. But in fact, Erin
does not win in that accident case and she does not have money. Erin always
shows her love to her children in every kiss that she gives for her children by
working hardly to get much money. As a single mother she must discover the
strength of her personality by working hard to change their live especially in
financial.
2. Erin is an independent woman. She will do everything to make a better
position in career. She wants to get increases in career so she works hard
to get it. She begins her career as a file clerk in that office until she
becomes someone who is very famous in that office because of her
successfulness in investigating the Pro Bono real estate case and
everyone respects her. She does not want to leave her career just to stay
at home like other women do in the past. So when George ask her to
make a decision to choose between her career and George, she chooses
her career and asks him to stay and live together with her even though he
makes a decision to leave her with her career.
Erin is someone who struggles in life, but still wants to do the right thing.
Someone who may be judged by other by her appearance or social
status, but not by her intellect or social skills. But she proved all of them
wrong because she believed in herself. She knows what she wants and
she goes for it.
https://therodinhoods.com/post/5-things-i-learnt-from-erin-brockovich-t
he-movie/
3. Erin will do everything to find and to make freedom and happiness.
Her spirit makes her works harder to have a better life. At the first, her
struggle appears when she tries to find a job. She will look for any kinds
of job without hopeless. She tries to find a job by reading
advertisements on the newspaper. Erin make a call for the job that she
saw on the newspaper. We can see how Erin makes great effort to get a
job even though she is always being rejected. She is never getting tired
to call some companies on the newspaper to find a job even though
she never gets that job. It shows that Erin is not passive and pessimist
but she is always optimist in finding a job.
How was the importance of Critical Thinking portrayed in this movie?
1. It reinforces problem-solving ability.
• For example, Charles Embry goes on to explain that PG&E was
ordered him to destroy documents that contained incriminating
evidence against them but, "as it turns out, he wasn't a very good
employee". Fortunately, Charles did not destroy his records and gave
them to Erin to help with the case. Turns out he kept the documents
that proved the main PG&E plant in San Francisco knew what was
going on in Hinkley and he turned them over to Erin. The attitude and
decision made by Charles made the Pro Bono case settled and Erin
and Ed able to win the case. The descriptions made by Charles and the
residents of Hinkley were very helpful in the Pro Bono case. Also
Charles and the residents of Hinkley were able to help Erin and Ed
solve the problems faced by the residents of Hinkley over the past few
years.
2. Critical thinking can make you happier. How your quality of life largely
depends on the quality of your decisions, but equally as important is
the quality of your thoughts. Critical thinking is an excellent tool to help
you better understand yourself and to learn to master your thoughts.
• For example, Erin doesn't care about her co –workers that seem likes
doesn’t like her maybe because of the way she dresses, in fact she is
more focused on doing her job. She is puzzled when she discovers
medical records of a Hinkley family included among the real estate files,
and asks Ed for permission to investigate. Erin worked harder when she
found out that her guess about PG&E was true after she and Donna
discussed the case. Although she was ill as a result of investigating the
case and had a misunderstanding with George and no one taking care of
her child, Erin still did not give up. In the end, Erin and Ed wins the case
and Ed rewards Erin greatly with a large sum of money that makes her
really happy.
3. Critical thinking leads to the possibility of solutions grounded in
justice.
• PG&E misinformed the residents by telling them that Chromium
IV was harmless, never warning them that they will be at risk. The
people in Hinkley put their trust in P&G in that their water was
fresh and clean not contaminated with chemicals. Unaware of the
side effects of exposure to Chromium VI, residents declined their
offers and continued to live in constant exposure. Hinkley
residents should practice critical thinking to know more about the
ingredients used by PG&E and take seriously the quality of the
water they will use and also to drink. They should also report to
more authorities if they suffer from a serious illness. If injustice is
taking place we have a right to stand up and fight against it no
matter how powerful the opposing side seems to be.
Importance of Critical Thinking for an
individual
1. It is a domain-general skill
• Critical thinking is not limited to a specific subject but it is the capacity of an individual
to think in a more rational and clear way. Critical thinking is important for individuals as it
gives them the ability to think in the right way and solve problems in a more efficient and
methodical way. This will give a great boost to any career that the student chooses.
2. Elevates autonomous learning
• Instead of complete dependence on classroom learning and teachers for complete
guidance and instructions, critical thinking allows us as a student to become more self-
reliant and independent learners. It also helps us as a student to evaluate our learning
style and recognize our areas of strength and flaws. By achieving this ability we can focus
on the solution in a better way and set goals accordingly.
3. Critical thinking encourages creativity
• To come up with a new or different solution for a given problem one cannot just
depend on the new ideas. It is important for the individual or student to understand that
the new thoughts that have been generated are applicable and useful in the given
problem. This is the place where critical thinking plays an important role. It helps in the
evaluation of the solutions and then using the best one and transforming or adjusting it if
needed.