Worth (2021)

The premise imbedded in Worth is the problematic ways we deal formally with the loss of life in our capitalist culture. The film centres on lawyers who are tasked with the job of arguing over the monetary value to be paid out to families and victims of the September 11 terrorist attacks and as we follow them we begin to see the futility of the exercise, the sheer lack of ability to even accomplish the task. Worth tackles this subtly, investing us in the human beings attempting to do this, so we can be in their shoes, and feel the utter futility. It is a quiet yet effective means of deconstructing the capitalist world view and how limited it is in solving so many problems we are faced with. 

Director Colangelo shoots her film is washed out tones, quietly focusing on formal interviews and conversations, wrapped up in a business like approach, which slowly dissolve until we can see the humanity of the humans underneath. It is an effective approach and one that helps us wrestle with so much of the complications which arise from attempting to associate financial value with human life. 

Keaton, Tucci, and Ryan are all strong, each playing close to the vest without dramatic set pieces which might have overloaded the balance. I appreciated how naturally all the players, and the film itself, lives into the story, a story that is based on real people and their losses. It was a sensitive way to approach this. Perhaps much of this is quite remarkable due to the fact that this sensitive and naturalist script comes from the writer of the Godzilla/King Kong movies of late. 

"True" stories are difficult to pull off as they often struggle with presenting an effective capturing of what real people lived through, but Worth attempts to own this responsibility and suggests that its audience might get to feel some of what these people went through in struggling with their loss. It asks us to wrestle with how to address that loss and if it's even possible. It gets us to think about it even if the answers aren't easy. 

For me the film struggles with its ending. As a movie it needs a "happy ending" and the film builds this around the acceptance of the fund overall. I'm not sure this works narratively. However the film still succeeds in getting us to think about these issues and in that it is a success. 

Worth

Starring: Michael Keaton, Stanley Tucci, Amy Ryan, Tate Donovan

Director: Sara Colangelo

Writer: Max Borenstein