Silkwood (1983)
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A nuclear whistle-blower risks her life and personal relationships to expose corporate wrongdoing at a plutonium plant.
The story
In 1972, Karen Silkwood works at the Kerr-McGee Cimarron Fuel Fabrication Site near Crescent, Oklahoma, where she manufactures MOX fuel rods for nuclear reactors. Concerned about corporate practices and radiation exposure, she becomes a union activist lobbying for worker safety. While she travels to Washington, D.C. to testify before the Atomic Energy Commission, she discovers that managers may be falsifying safety reports and cutting corners. As she begins investigating the plant's alleged wrongdoing, complications arise in her personal life, including a conflict with her former common-law husband and the arrival of a new person in her shared household.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
In 1972, Karen Silkwood lives in a ramshackle house with her boyfriend Drew Stephens and her lesbian friend Dolly Pelliker while working at the Kerr-McGee Cimarron Fuel Fabrication Site in Oklahoma. She manufactures MOX fuel rods and becomes a union activist after becoming concerned about radiation exposure and corporate negligence. She believes management is falsifying safety reports and decides to investigate. While she travels to Washington, D.C. to testify before the Atomic Energy Commission, she discovers evidence of retouched weld sample radiographies and altered safety records. Her personal life fractures as Drew moves out, unable to handle her obsession with gathering evidence. On November 13, 1974, after gathering sufficient documentation, Silkwood arranges a nighttime meeting with a New York Times journalist. While traveling to the meeting, she is blinded by approaching headlights and is involved in a fatal one-car crash. No documents are found in the wreckage.
- First release year
- 1983
- Runtime (minutes)
- 131
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Mike Nichols
- Writers
- Nora Ephron · writer; Alice Arlen · writer
- Cast and characters
- Meryl Streep · Karen Silkwood; Kurt Russell · Drew Stephens; Cher · Dolly Pelliker
- Genres
- biographical drama; LGBTQ-related; Anti-nuclear
- Themes
- Whistleblowing; Labor activism; Corporate negligence; Nuclear safety
- Tone and mood
- Dramatic; Emotional; Serious
- Premise and plot tags
- Biographical; True Story; Nuclear Energy; Labor Union
- Source material / true-story basis
- Who Killed Karen Silkwood? by Howard Kohn
- Reception
- The film received largely favorable reviews and was a box office success, with particular attention focused on Nichols' direction and Streep's performance.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 78% · review count: 41; Metacritic · score: 65 · scale: 100
- Awards and nominations
- Academy Awards · Best Actress · Nomination; Academy Awards · Best Supporting Actress · Nomination; Academy Awards · Best Director · Nomination
- Production trivia
- The film's development spanned nine years.; The project was originally intended to cast Jane Fonda.; The film's production set a precedent in the U.S. Supreme Court regarding the protection of confidential sources for film-makers.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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