LONDON: A movie centered around a US attorney who attempts to calculate a series of compensation claims doesn’t immediately scream for viewers’ attention. But “Worth” — which premiered at Sundance in 2020, but hasn’t received a release until now — is, quite simply, a remarkable movie.
Michael Keaton plays Kenneth Feinberg, an attorney who specializes in mediation and dispute resolution. Following the devastating events of 9/11, as most of the world looked on in impotent horror, Feinberg and his firm’s head of operations, Camille Biros (Amy Ryan), bid to help in the only way they know how — by agreeing to head the US Congress-appointed Victim Compensation Fund and determine a method to put a financial value on the lost life of each victim. As Feinberg and his team come up with a formula to calculate those values, they cross swords with lawyer Lee Quinn (Tate Donovan), who seeks to gain greater compensation on behalf of clients who lost big-earning family members, representatives of the airlines who fear being sued into bankruptcy, and community activist Charles Wolf (Stanley Tucci), who rallies the surviving families around the idea that Feinberg’s formula is unjust.
“Worth” premiered at Sundance in 2020, but hasn’t received a release until now. (Supplied)
Director Sara Colangelo (“The Kindergarten Teacher”) handles the sensitive subject with deftness and remarkable skill — the movie’s emphasis is on the aftermath of the attacks, not on recreating the events of that September day. Colangelo lets the stories of the victims speak for themselves, expertly allowing the personal relationships sundered by 9/11 to provide the drama and the heart at the center of this movie.
Keaton is astonishing as Feinberg. Confident in his abilities at first, he tries to remain detached and objective, resisting talking to any of the families directly and always falling back on his formula. Keaton’s scenes with Tucci, in particular, spark with emotional punch, as Wolf pleads with Feinberg to see the victims (including his wife) as people, with unique circumstances, and not lines on a spreadsheet. Keaton, for his part, paints Feinberg in subtle shades, as he slowly realizes how complex the people behind the numbers really are. Keaton, Tucci and Ryan (who revels in a subplot regarding an unmarried partner entitled to nothing) — much like the movie as a whole — are simply spectacular.
