Steve McQueen is both the Executive Producer and star of this version of Ibsen's powerful play. This is a diversion from the usual McQueen that I have grown to know over the years, but he is superb, here, as the proclaimed "Enemy of the People."
Here, McQueen plays the role of a local doctor, Doctor Thomas Stockman, who discovers that the town's water supply is "poisoned" with chemicals and bacteria from a local tannery, and he is driven to let the town know of this before it is too late. However, his brother, Peter Stockman (Charles Durning), is the mayor of the town and anxious to promote the town for its healthy spa waters. If the spa water supply is cleaned up, it would cost the town extra time and a tax increase would be necessary to pay for the cleanup. This difference between Thomas and Peter sets up a conflict in which neither side can "give in." Both sides vie for support from the town and its voice, the local newspaper.
To make matters worse, Thomas's wife, Catherine (Bibi Andersson), and family (two young boys and an older girl who works as a local nurse) are caught in the middle of what may be called "local mob violence" and have no local support and no other place to go...Peter blocks Thomas and his family from either emigrating to America or working in another town in Norway. Thomas is trapped between his discovered truth (that he cannot escape or ignore) and his own family's existence.
Here, McQueen plays the role of a local doctor, Doctor Thomas Stockman, who discovers that the town's water supply is "poisoned" with chemicals and bacteria from a local tannery, and he is driven to let the town know of this before it is too late. However, his brother, Peter Stockman (Charles Durning), is the mayor of the town and anxious to promote the town for its healthy spa waters. If the spa water supply is cleaned up, it would cost the town extra time and a tax increase would be necessary to pay for the cleanup. This difference between Thomas and Peter sets up a conflict in which neither side can "give in." Both sides vie for support from the town and its voice, the local newspaper.
To make matters worse, Thomas's wife, Catherine (Bibi Andersson), and family (two young boys and an older girl who works as a local nurse) are caught in the middle of what may be called "local mob violence" and have no local support and no other place to go...Peter blocks Thomas and his family from either emigrating to America or working in another town in Norway. Thomas is trapped between his discovered truth (that he cannot escape or ignore) and his own family's existence.