Yet, it continues to maintain the same lighting in almost every scene.
What is disappointing about the lack of lighting variation is how the film had so many opportunities to experiment with contrast and different coloring throughout the several changes of setting and the uses of flashback scenes. There are also few changes in lighting, which amount to giving the film a bit of a monotonous mood. There are the occasional creative framing choices where a close up shows a character’s vulnerability or raw emotion, but these are so few and far between that when such an angle is employed it feels out of place and awkward. The viewer is forced to watch intense conversations from afar instead of up close and in the middle of the action. Other details that lessen the cinematic value of the film include the poor choices of camera angles and lighting. All of these methods could have been successful in showing a change of time, yet the haphazard combination of them makes the scene changes confusing interruptions rather than smooth transitions. Still others show vague, eerie images of Radium being used in everyday American life in an attempt to create a shock factor towards how a dangerous radioactive material could be so commonplace at one time.
Others show protests reflecting growing unrest among the public regarding various social issues. The reels vary in content, some showing Roaring Twenties-esque scenes such as big bands and flappers. And at some of the most confusing moments, black and white film reels break up scenes. At other moments simple cuts make up varying amounts of hours or days in between events. At some points a date is shown in a corner of the screen to show when a scene is occurring (as the story takes place over several years). One such detail is the lack of continuity in the portrayal of a passage of time. It is in the details where the potential of this film is not met. The film does well in exploring subjects of sexism, exploitation of power within large businesses and the government, and even the demonization of unconventional political beliefs, but ultimately fails to make a truly moving story of these themes.
Upon Josephine falling mysteriously ill, the story follows Bessie as she takes a stand against the evil company and society that were allowed to cause such harm to so many women in the interest of capital gain. Enter Radium Girls, a film providing a glimpse into the lives of Americans in the mid 1920s that also had its fair share of crooked practices.īased on true events, Radium Girls tells the story of sisters Bessie (Joey King) and Josephine Cavallo (Abby Quinn) as they learn about how the Radium they work with while painting wrist watch dials each day at the American Radium company has slowly been poisoning them - while their employers knowledgeable of the material’s danger take no responsibility for the lifelong damage it causes.
#American radium movie full
Full of secrets, scandals, and even outright corruption, it becomes almost compulsory to wonder if American society has always been riddled with such messy policies. It is no secret that Americans are living in a politically-charged time. Promotional artwork courtesy of Cine Mosaic. ‘Radium Girls’ follows sisters Bessie (Joey King, third from right) and Josephine Cavallo (Abby Quinn, third from left) as they engage in a legal battle against the American Radium company for allowing their employees to work with Radium that was known to be dangerous.
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