Michael Clayton raises a question of ethics

George Clooney delivers one of his best performances in the lead role in Tony Gilroy’s debut moral thriller Michael Clayton which hit the silver screens earlier this month. It’s a flashback of events over four days which brings us back to the present and a thrilling end.

Michael Clayton, a ‘fixer’ (he uses the term ‘janitor’ to describe himself) for a big-time New York corporate legal firm, cleans up messes left behind by the firm’s rich and famous clients. When the firm’s highly-experienced lawyer Arthur Edens (another great performance by Tom Wilkinson) breaks down on a multi-billion dollar class-action suit against a prestigious agrichemical client, U.North, Michael Clayton, a long-time friend of Edens, is sent to clean up the mess.

With Edens’ breakdown, things seemingly get out of hand for U.North on the class-action suit, and the corporation’s ambitious chief legal counsel, Karen Crowder (played fabulously by Tilda Swinton), steps in to salvage the situation for her organisation and protect her own turf. When her own private investigation indicates Edens’ plan to sabotage the class-action suit in favour of the plaintiffs, Crowder resorts to some unsavoury means which lead to chilling consequences.

While investigating Edens’ breakdown, Clayton is straddled by the burden of his work, a failed marriage, a son he has no time for, a failed attempt at starting a restaurant business, an imminent company merger which may jeopardise his job, and a gambling habit. When his friend Arthur Edens is suddenly found dead, Clayton begins to trace Edens’ erratic behaviour and learns that U.North may have been responsible for the deaths of, and damage caused to, many farmers – a fact Edens wanted to make public.

Michael Clayton re-assesses (for us) the notion of ethics in today’s corporate world and the lengths we are willing to go to overlook or defend it. It’s a moral tale that presents to us the risks of choosing either side.