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In fact, as k Tassone and manages to make him more charismatic than than an evil villain. It helps that Hugh Jackman plays the thieving superintendent Frand Education isn't as painfully dark as Radium Girls. In fact,ĭirected with snap, crackle and style by Cory Finley, scripted by Mike Makowsky, a graduate of the bilked Roslyn schol district, it's an entertaining caper. While a superintendent's stealing more than $10 million from a school district is no laughing matter but grand larceny, Bad Education isn't as painfully dark as Raidium Girls. Ultimately, the flaws are overshadowed by the moving performances of Joey King and Abby Quinn as well as the excellent ensemble members, a number of whom I've had the pleasure of seeing on stage.įrom HBO we have another docu-drama, in this case a 20-year-old financial scandal with plenty of timely elements. The frequent black-and-white street scene interludes add a nice cinematic touch but aren't always an organic fit for the storyline. The filmmakers do push too hard on the 'wokeness' button by adding another friend for Bessie: Etta, (Susan Heyward), an African-American photographer who adds the destroyed enclave of successful black Oklahoma citizens to the mix of abusive behavior that has darkened our history. Leech (Scott Shepherd), the factory scientist. Katherine Drinker (Veanne Cox) the Harvsrd professor who discovered the toxic elements of Radium and Mr.

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And the trial features highly dramatic supportive testimonies by Dr. But there are some small and potent triumphsīessie is supported by Walt and Wiley Stephens (Cara Seymour), local worker advocacy organization's representative.

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Since Radium Girls is based on actual events, don't count on a happy ending in which Jo gets well, the shut-down of the New Jersey and Illinois 'follow the money' factories, plus personal happiness and an acting career for Bessie. The doctor's shamefully false diagnosis and the way the company deals with Jo's deteriorating condition results in a David-and-Goliath courtroom battle. Roeder, the autocratic factory owner (John Bedford Lloyd), to send the company doctor ((Neal Huff) to diagnose and treat Jo. She insists on getting help - and eventually justice - for her beloved sister. The film's agitprop sensibility merges all aspects of the plot by making Bessie's boyfriend Walt (Collin Kelly-Sordelet) a communist who radicalizes Bessie to more actively protect her beloved sister. The sisters' story includes a romance for Bessie and her dream of being an actress alongside increasingly worrisome health issues for Jo. (Think of the current push to promote vaping as a safe alternative to cigarettes.) Thus, many of the girls also painted their nails with polish 'enhanced' with radium. Except for Bessie, the girls at American Radio see no danger in this practice since this is 1925, a period when Marie Curie' s discovery of radium was hailed not just a scientific miracle but also heavily promoted as a wonderful healing and beauty product. It's pretty obvious from the get-go that the practice of licking the paintbrushes to produce a finer point should have been discouraged rather than encouraged. Bessie and Jo followed in the footsteps of their older sister who died three years earlier. Paltry as the wages are they're better than what poor girls in other factories earned in those days. However, the chief characters are two fictionalized, teen-aged sisters from an impoverished family that relies on their wages as 'dial painters' in the Orange, New Jersey American Radio Factory - Bessie (Joey King) and Jo (Abby Quinn). The scenario focuses on characters who are composites of actual people. The filmmakers have expanded the drama at a New Jersey factory as well as a Midwestern factory, into a broader look at our labor history, especially as it affected women. If it echoes recent false information about the dangers of the virus and the importance of wearing masks, that is of course what makes Radium Girls painful to watch, and intensely relevant a hundred years after that workplace tragedy unfolded.

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And in Radium Girls, the movie now streaming at Netflix, Dean Pilcher and Ginny Moholder have certainly not soft-pedaled the horrendous suffering caused by deliberately hidden truths and harmful guidelines for how to do the job. The true story of t the shameful failure to protect workers in a radium factory from its harmful effects isn't escapeĮntertainment.