Michael Keaton Tries To Figure Out What a Life is Worth in The Powerful Post-9/11 Drama WORTH - Sundance Review

What is a life worth? That is the question that this new movie titled Worth explores. After the tragic events of 9/11 in 2001, thousands of people were dealing with the struggles after having lost their loved ones. While these families and individuals were trying to move on with a hole in their lives and hearts, the government was trying to make sure to keep the economy intact and attempt to keep these families from suing the airlines.

There was a lot at stake at this time, so Congress hired attorney Kenneth Feinberg, who was played in the film by Michael Keaton, to lead the charge on the September 11th Victim Fund, the main goal of which was to figure out a way to compensate the families who lost loved ones. This was not an easy task and even President Bush said that he wouldn’t wish this job on his worst enemy. 

Feinberg wanted to help, though, in fact, he volunteered his services and took it on at no cost. He came in with good intentions to try and come up with a plan that would work, but as you might imagine he ended up in way over his head and the way he started out doing things did not make people happy. But, through a series of events and lists of bumps in the road, he ended up finding a solution that worked.

Worth is a brutally emotional film that tells a very heavy story. I don’t think there was a dry eye in the house on this one. It really pulls on your heartstrings as you learn the stories of the families who lost their husbands, wives, brothers, sisters, partners, and friends. It was a rough film to get through, but it’s also one of those stores that really needs to be told. 

It’s these stories you don’t really hear about or go out of your way to research, so this movie does it for you in a wonderful heartfelt way. 

Micheal Keaton offered an incredible performance in this movie. He plays the kind of character that you both love and hate. While his intentions are good, he is a very stubborn individual that is trying to avoid the human emotion behind what these people are going through. His initial plan is planned out with a set of rules and analytics to make the process simple and exact. Not until later does he actually decide to learn each of the different circumstances behind each family and individual and also use that as a way to decide how much a human life is worth. 

The movie also stars Amy Ryan (The Office) as Feinberg’s partner, who helps him throughout the process. She also gave a wonderful performance. Then there’s the always fantastic Stanley Tucci, who play Charles Wolf a community organizer whose wife died in the towers.

Worth told an intriguing story and offered insight on how a system like this works. A system of which a value is placed on a life. It’s actually kind of crazy, but it’s something that’s got to be done. While the film is interesting and informative the story it tells is incredibly touching and it grabs hold of your heart and soul and gives us a deeper understanding of what these victims went through.

Here’s the synopsis:

Following the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, Congress appoints attorney Kenneth Feinberg (Michael Keaton) to lead the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund. But how can he put a value on the lives lost? Caught between lawyers looking to sue and airline lobbies anxious to settle, Feinberg must broker a deal with the victims’ families. When he locks horns with Charles Wolf (Stanley Tucci), a community organizer whose wife died in the towers, Feinberg begins to learn the human costs of the tragedy.

Sara Colangelo, whose film The Kindergarten Teacher took top directing honors at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival, returns with the tough-minded true story of the legal struggle that followed in the wake of 9/11. Worth takes a hard look at the political machinations behind the fund and examines the cold calculus used to assign a value to the victims. Keaton brings gravity and wit to his portrayal of the real-life Feinberg, and Amy Ryan gives a quietly moving performance as his dogged deputy.