Over $100 billion in personal injury compensation is paid out annually in the USA. Koskoff, Koskoff & Bieder is one of the biggest law firms in the US specialising in these cases. This film follows the daily work of the firm's lawyers as they value the harm done to their clients and set about getting the maximum compensation pay out possible from the insurance companies of those at fault. The film looks at the process of decided what compensation to go after and planning the case itself from the practice juries to the debating of the value of a person.
An interesting film this one that is slightly weakened but also effective in the way that it simply films proceedings with no commentary or narration. The fly-on-the-wall footage is only broken up by chapter headings that are nothing more than a quote from the dialogue that will follow. It is a sparse affair but it works by leaving the viewer without anything emotional or judgemental to cling to and what we are left with is a rather depressing view of human life. I liked the way it avoided judging the American legal system in regards blame and compensation it is an easy target in some ways but not in others but rather it just views the discussions. Seeing the family members and hearing the stories perhaps keeps the viewer on the side of the lawyers and this leaves us free of emotion and able to sit on the side of the table with those planning the case.
In this way the viewer is able to look at human life in the same way as the lawyers have to coldly, assigning value that can be quantified and put into dollars and cents; even love and sex are given a fancy word so that a financial worth can be assigned. It is hard not to start thinking yourself about the title question with all this. The downside of this approach is that it is rather cold and some viewers may be left bored by what is essentially a series of meetings. However for me it was hard to ignore the questions about the value of life while watching this which I think is its appeal.
Overall then, although rather cold and lacking narrative and commentary, the film is quite fascinating as it allows the legal system to answer the question in the title and, in doing so, it engaged and interested me.
An interesting film this one that is slightly weakened but also effective in the way that it simply films proceedings with no commentary or narration. The fly-on-the-wall footage is only broken up by chapter headings that are nothing more than a quote from the dialogue that will follow. It is a sparse affair but it works by leaving the viewer without anything emotional or judgemental to cling to and what we are left with is a rather depressing view of human life. I liked the way it avoided judging the American legal system in regards blame and compensation it is an easy target in some ways but not in others but rather it just views the discussions. Seeing the family members and hearing the stories perhaps keeps the viewer on the side of the lawyers and this leaves us free of emotion and able to sit on the side of the table with those planning the case.
In this way the viewer is able to look at human life in the same way as the lawyers have to coldly, assigning value that can be quantified and put into dollars and cents; even love and sex are given a fancy word so that a financial worth can be assigned. It is hard not to start thinking yourself about the title question with all this. The downside of this approach is that it is rather cold and some viewers may be left bored by what is essentially a series of meetings. However for me it was hard to ignore the questions about the value of life while watching this which I think is its appeal.
Overall then, although rather cold and lacking narrative and commentary, the film is quite fascinating as it allows the legal system to answer the question in the title and, in doing so, it engaged and interested me.
