All language subtitles for Radium Girls_English

[light music]

- Step right up!

Ladies and gentlemen,
boys and girls!

Folks, get your bottle of radioactive water, Radithor!

It has the same effect
on the human body

as recharging
electric batteries!

Did you know that all the way

from the mines of
Paradox Valley, Colorado

comes a miracle elixir of the 20th century, radium!

[crowd oohing]

Good for my nails, ladies.

Good for my nails.

[whimsical music]

Doctors are already using it

to cure such things as
arthritis and cancer!

Some call it liquid sunshine.

There's a new line
of beauty products

guaranteed to make
your skin glow.

Hats off to Marie
Curie for discovering

this most beneficial
of elements.

Step right up,
ladies and gentlemen!

Never be lost in the dark again!

Welcome to the modern age!

It's a whole new world.

[train whooshing]

- [Worker] I know the new girl.

That's Agnes.

- Now watch me.

Easy enough?

You're paid one cent per dial.

The best girls
average 200 a day.

Welcome to American Radium. - Thank you.

- Hey.

It's slower, but there's noaftertaste if you don't lick it.

- What's your average?

- 40.

[bright music]

- Grandpa, please tell me you did not steal that.

- No, no, I put 'em on a credit,

you know, you pay a
little bit every month.

So it's for everybody.

Jo, come on!

- How little every month?

- [Radio Host] Rudolph Valentino's adoring public

waits with bated breath

as the Tinseltown star deals with sudden illness.

- Oh...

- [Advertiser] Never wash another shirt in your life!

Only eight dollars a month. - Josephine, Josephine!

- This is a washing machine...

- We do not need this.

Can you get dinner on?

- Maybe you don't need it.

I do.

- [Josephine] Bessie.

- [Grandpa] Come on, sisters.

[upbeat music]

- [Advertiser] For maximum health, eat natural foods,

breathe fresh air,
and drink plenty

of invigorating
radioactive water.

Brought to you by
American Radium.

- Bye.

- The cute
photographer is a Red!

- Ow, ow! - Don't even think about it.

- I wasn't talking to you.

Mr. Leech... [whispers]

[giggling]

- [claps] Everyone, please welcome Mr. Roeder!

[workers applauding]

- How are my girls today, eh?

[chuckling]

I'm sorry.

I'm being very rude.

Mr. Leech, come
over here please.

Come on.

Let's have a big hand
for Mr. Leech, shall we?

For all of his hard work watching over you girls, hmm?

[workers applauding]

Very very good.

Now...

I have a very special surprise

for this month's top painter.

For the most dials completed,

Josephine Cavallo...

- Josephine!

- Your very own
taste of Radithor.

Where's Josephine?

Well done, young lady.

Congratulations.

Stuff cures everything.

Nausea, melancholy,
impotence, ennui.

- Thank you Mr. Roeder.
- Thank you.

- Thank you, girls.

Without you, we would
not be thriving.

- [Workers] Thank
you Mr. Roeder.

- [Roeder] Three, two, one.

[shutter clicking]

- [Josephine] I want to
find a tomb like Tut's.

When I'm an archeologist.

- [Hazel] No! [giggles]

Oh, he's comin' for you.

Look!

- [Bessie] Jo, put away
that Book Of The Dead.

- Stay away from him.

- Ooh! [giggles]

- I'm Walt.

Walt Freeman.

- Bessie Cavallo.

[horn blaring]

See you around.

- Hey...

Us girls are having a
little party here later.

At midnight.
- Here?

- That's right.

See you then?

[opera music]

- La la la la!

- What happened this week?

- Hmm?

- You're short by 100 dials.

- Mr. Leech happened.

I promise I'll do
better this week.

- I'm docking your allowance.

- Could you like
move for a little?

Thank you.

[light music]

In the words of Valentino,

I'm not afraid of
the dead, or ghosts.

I'm not afraid of
the life beyond.

And it's not because
I don't believe in it.

It's because I do.

- Better not get fired for this.

- [sighs] Jo, stop
being such a worrywort.

- Now think about your question,

and put all of that
energy into the cards.

- When will I become famous?

When will I become famous?

[door slams]
[gasping]

Someone's here!
- Spirits!

- Someone's here, come on!

- Let's hide in Leech's office!

[panting]

Mr. Leech's office is cold.

- What if it's Leech?
- What if it's Butkiss?

- What if it's Mr. Roeder?

[door creaking]
[gasping]

- Uh, hi Walt!

Bye, Walt! [giggles]

- [Josephine] Bye.

- [Bessie] Hi!

- It looks like
a galaxy in here.

- Yeah, it does.

If you let your
eyes go all soft,

it looks like the night sky.

- Wow, look at this clock.

- [Bessie] What...

It's Mary.

- [Walt] Is she famous?

- No, no, she's my sister.

She used to work here.

She passed away three years ago.

She practically
raised me and Jo.

Our parents died
when we were young.

- Sorry.

- Mr. Leech is such a creep. - No kidding.

- Hey...

Do you wanna go to a party maybe with me next weekend?

- A party? [laughs]

I love parties!

[laughs] Yeah, sure!
- All right!

[faint music]

- Come on, let's go!

[upbeat music]

[gasping]

[soft music]

- Hey, Mary.

Um...

I'm sorry I've been
hiding from you.

Look what I found in Mr. Leech's office, of all places.

[dramatic music]

What is this?

"Pardon me, but I'm in love."

[gasping]

I'm in love?

Jo!

Jo!

Jo, Jo, are you in there?

Jo!
- Don't come in, please.

- Jo, was Mary in
love with Leech?

- You'll wake the
neighborhood, Bessie.

- What?

I'm coming in.

Josephine?

- Do you understand
what go away means?

- Um...
- Please leave.

- Jo, I think that
you need a doctor.

- No, I just feel tired.

You can tell Butkiss
I'll be late today.

- Okay.

Oh, um, Mr. Roeder, sir?

Hi.
- Yes, what is it?

- Do you know of a doctor that my sister Jo could go see?

I don't know what's wrong with her exactly, but...

- Does she work here?

- Yes, Josephine Cavallo.

She won the most painted
dials this month.

- Ah, I'm very busy.

- Wait, no no, please, please!

Please.

- All right.

I'll have the company doctor call on her this week.

- Thank you, sir.

Thank you so much.

- Bessie Cavallo!

Get in here.

Any day, Cavallo.

[clocks ticking]

I've been wondering if the world

isn't one universe, but many.

A multiverse.

One for each future
that could've been.

Listen, Mary--
- It's Bessie.

- Your work suffers,
Ms. Cavallo.

The four is abominable,

and the eight looks
like a fat toddler.

I'm docking your pay again.

- Is that all?

- We have to sell
the watches you paint

for the same price
as all the rest.

Do you understand
that, Ms. Cavallo?

- Yes, I do.

- Do you?

- I do, Mr. Leech.

[light music]

[knocking]

- Josephine Cavallo?

- I'm Bessie, come on in.

Jo, he's here!

- Hello.
- I'm Dr. Flint.

- Jo.

- You've been under the weather?

- I'm dizzy.

My joints ache.

I lost a tooth, and
two others are loose.

- Hmm...

Now aren't you falling apart?

Open.

Tongue out.

Is good hygiene
difficult for you?

- No.

- I'm going to give you
a pamphlet I produced

at Columbia University.

We may have different definitions of good hygiene.

- Do you know what's
wrong with me?

- Absolutely nothing.

You're as healthy as a horse.

- But the pain, sir?

- I can run a few tests that'll make you feel better.

- Thank you.

- Okay, open up.

- Ow.

Ow.

- Hmm...

Thank you, Josephine.

- Thank you.

Maybe I should just stay
home with you tonight.

What if Walt wants to...

What if he wants to...

Do it.

- Tell him you're
joining a convent.

- What if he tries to talk to me about politics

and realizes that I'm not smart?

- You're plenty smart.

Just not about politics.

- Josephine, can you
just give me something?

Please?

- Congress is carving a monument

into a South Dakota mountain.

For tourism, you know,
presidents' faces.

- Why do you know that?

- It reminds me of the pyramids.

Be careful, okay?

- Yeah.

You should get some rest.

[soft music]

- Hope you're not
an ax murderer.

- It's too late for
you now if I am.

- I'm not going
to sleep with you.

- Ever?

[laughs]

- Go ahead.

[knocking]

- Password?
- Garbanzo.

- I've never been to a party with a password before.

- Welcome.

[upbeat music]

- You made it!

Have you seen the
new protest footage?

- No.

- Welcome.
- Hi, I'm Bessie.

- Thomas.
- Nice to meet you.

- Make yourself at home.
- Thank you.

[people chattering]

- Wasted resources
in that country.

- Exactly.

- We should be worried about

what's going on
in the home front.

- Hi.
- Hey.

- Oh my, are your nails glowin'?

- I'm Bessie.
- Etta.

- Bessie, Etta is one of the best camera operators

this side of the Mississippi.

- She sure is.

- Do you shoot motion pictures?

Have you seen
Valentino's latest?

- I shoot real life.

[shutter clicking]

- If I could just live inside one of his films, I would.

- Those films are made
to distract people

from what's goin' on
right in front of 'em.

- What are we
talkin' about here?

- Cinema.

- Hollywood pushing propaganda.

- Wanna go outside?
- Yeah, sure.

- Lovely to meet
you, Thomas, Etta.

- Yes.

- Wait, who's she?

- Bess.

- Did you know that Congress is building a mountain

into the side...

No, no, that's not what I meant!

I meant that they are
carving a sculpture

into the side of a mountain.

Presidents' faces.

- Yeah, it's on sacred
Native American land.

- Yeah, it reminds
me of the pyramids.

- Did you know they were
built by slave labor?

- I did not.

But Jo knows
everything about them.

There's something
wrong with her.

- With who?
- Jo.

- She lost a tooth, and
her face is all puffy.

- Did she see a doctor?

- Mr. Roeder, from
work, sent us someone.

And he's running some tests, but he says that she's fine.

- Um...

Well, I know of this woman who helps sick workers.

May be a long shot, but...

- Yes, please, anything.

Full service here, huh?

[bright music]

- How's Jo?

- We're still waiting
on the doctor's results.

Thanks.

- This is a waste of time.

- No it's not.

Uh, 'scuse me sir?

I'm looking for Miss--
- Call me Wiley.

- Tea?
- No thank you.

- What brings you to
the Consumer's League?

- Walt gave me your card

after I told him
that Jo was sick.

He said that you
help sick workers.

- Mm-hmm.
- I'm Jo.

- This isn't a doctor's office.

- I'm not a doctor.

- Then how do you
help sick workers?

I told you this was
a waste of time.

- Just because you don't
like Walt doesn't--

- Girls, girls.

Where do you work?

- American Radium.

- Ah.

You're dial painters.

- Yes.

- What do you do here?

- We study industrial toxins

and use the legal system
to protect workers

from exposure to them.

We've been collecting data

on a number of suspicious radium dial painter illnesses.

- Pardon me?

- We believe that
exposure to radium

can cause devastating
tissue damage.

- Tissue damage?
- Wait, radium?

- [laughs] Radium is good for you, everyone knows that.

- And how do you
plan on proving it?

- We've been trying to exhume a deceased dial painter.

It's the first step
in understanding what
could be going on.

- What's exhume?
- It's dig up.

- Our sister was a dial painter.

She passed away three years ago.

Um, syphilis.

- How dare you?

- That's a convenient diagnosis.

Something a woman would never want to talk about.

This could be the breakthrough we've been waiting for.

With your permission--
- We're leaving.

- Thank you.
- Think about it.

- Thank you.
- I'll be here.

[light music]

- They're cursed, you know. - Who?

- [Bessie] Those men who unearthed King Tut's tomb.

- Curses aren't real.

- They are if you
desecrate the dead.

In the Book Of The Dead, it says that in the afterlife

your heart is weighed against the feather of truth.

[dramatic music]

If your heart is lighter
than the feather,

then your soul goes on
to meet the sun god, Ra.

But, if it's heavier,
then you get devoured

by the soul eater.

- It's a myth, Bessie.
- Says you.

- It was real to them.

[thunder crashing]

I'm scared of the soul eater.

That's why I always
tell the truth.

- Oh, do you?

- Maat, goddess of the truth.

- [Josephine] I
prefer artifacts.

[knocking]

- Dr. Flint!
- Is Josephine home?

- Yes actually, she's here.

Come in.

- I wanted to bring you
the results right away.

- What is it?

- I'm afraid you have syphilis.

You're in shock, I can tell.

It's a nasty disease.

- No, it's impossible.

I'm a virgin.

- Aren't we all?
- Dr. Flint!

- Some of the symptoms
can be managed,

but I'm afraid there is no cure.

I'm sorry.

You have any questions?

- Syphilis?
- Uh, no.

- [Grandpa] Who has syphilis?

Not Josephine!

- Grandpa, you don't know what you're talking about.

Lazy old man.
- Go to your room!

- Go on!

- [Bessie] Jo!

I found this diary
in Mary's old chest.

Jo, listen.

"Sweet Leech is acting strange.

"He warned me not
to lick the brush.

"Mrs. Butkiss says it will put a glow in my cheeks,

"but Leech says that
radium is dangerous.

"Could that be true?"

- Leech said that?

- I guess so, but...

You're making my serious face.

I believe you, you know.

You can't have syphilis.

I mean, you hate boys!

Dr. Flint is not a
very good doctor.

- Yeah.

Or he's lying.

- Kiss from Maat,
goddess of truth?

- We have to do it.

- Do you think that
Mary will forgive us?

- I do.

I think she'd like being part of solving this mystery.

- Yeah.

[sighing]

[dramatic music]

- Levels of radioactivity in Mary's bones

are one thousand
times the safe limit.

Radium poisoning was
her cause of death.

- I thought you were just magic.

[sobbing]

It's gonna be better.

- What does this mean for us?

- I'm afraid you're
both at risk.

Dr. Marland can examine you now.

[tense music]

[sobbing]

- Ms. Cavallo, you're luckyyou didn't lick the paintbrush.

It may have saved your life.

Josephine, as the infection in your jaw progresses,

bone removal may
become necessary.

I estimate it will be two years

before the radium
necrosis becomes fatal.

[dramatic music]

- We shot this
footage last weekend

in front of the New
York Stock Exchange.

Sacco and Vanzetti have been wrongfully convicted of murder

because of their
political beliefs.

They're sentenced to death by a jury afraid of anarchists.

- [Bessie] Is it illegal
to be an anarchist?

- No.

It's illegal to convict people

because you don't
like their politics.

Anti-radical sentiment
is running high,

and it doesn't help
that they're immigrants.

- What does it take to be heard?

These men, they are innocent!

And the people will bring the truth to the light.

- [All] Here, here!

- [Bessie] I've never seen anything like this before.

- Look how many
people are out there.

- These people are marching

because they care
about the truth, right?

If people knew the truth about radium, they would march too.

[light music]

[coughing]

Everyone, put down your brushes!

- Miss Cavallo!

- An autopsy of Mary showed

that there was
radium in her bones.

Jo and I were just examined.

- Miss Cavallo, you
are sorely mistaken

if you think that you can continue working here.

- I quit.

Everyone, you have to
come to the doctor!

- Oh my God.
- What is she...

- Keep working!

Bessie, you're trespassing.

- Radium is poison!

I won't abandon you!

- That's enough, Miss Cavallo!

[workers muttering]

- Why didn't you ask me first?

- I thought you'd
be proud of me.

- Bessie, we have no income now.

Do you understand?

We only have our savings left.

- Selfish girl.

Tomorrow you go ask
for your job back.

- No!
- I mean it.

- No!

[soft music]

Everybody's mad at me.

- I'm sorry.

Are you gonna look
for another job?

- Anything but dial painting.

- Well, don't apply to
the fireworks factory.

- Huh?

- Or the hattery, or the shoe factory, or the canning plant.

White phosphorus,
mercury, benzene.

Chronic toxins.

- Okay, okay.

Thanks for the pep talk, Walt.

This is serious.

Okay, girls are still working at the radium factory.

- I know.

It's just...

There's a lot of world
out there to change.

I don't want to
see you let down.

The legal system won't help you.

[pensive music]

[horn blaring]

- Hey, Paula, Paula!

Hey, I'm trying to help you!

Paula, listen, what
about your little boy?

Listen to me, there is a doctor

that can test if your
bones are radioactive.

- I don't know if I believe you.

- Paula, six dial painters have already died

of inexplicable causes, one of them was my sister!

Do you believe that?

Hazel, Hazel, Hazel,
thank goodness!

Hazel, don't you believe me?

- Bessie, you sound crazy.

I'm not losing my job over this!

- Stop!

Don't you at least want
to know for yourselves?

[knocking]

Hi, can I help you?

- We were sent by
American Radium.

We're looking for Bessie
and Josephine Cavallo.

- Yes, I'm Bessie.
- What is it?

- It's an offer from
American Radium.

300 dollars to
appease your concerns.

- It's about the
radium poisoning?

- No, this doesn't say
anything about that.

- [Man In Suit] AmericanRadium cares for its employees.

- What is the 300 dollars for?

- Your signature.

- Oh boy..
- I know.

- 300 each?

- We can't take this!

- Bessie, this is
a lot of money.

- The offer stands for one week.

Think about it.

- Thank you very much.

- 300 dollars, that's
30 thousand dials!

- No.

I would like to see
what Wiley has to say

at the meeting tomorrow.

[bell chiming]

- Say, isn't that festive?

- Doris!

- Mary?

You look so good.

Look at you!

- Hi, it's--

Thank you, but I'm Bessie.

I'm Mary's little sister.

- Bessie, Bessie...

- You know me, I just haven't seen you since Mary's funeral.

- Bessie, of course!

And Josephine!

Hello.
- Hello, Doris.

- Hello!

I need to sit down.
- Sure.

- Wasn't it a lifetime
ago Mary and I

used to paint those dials for our boys overseas.

- Doris, what brings you here?

- Dr. Flint treated
me for years.

He helped me with
the pain, good man.

That's how Wiley found me.

- I'm so pleased
you're all here.

Paula, Bessie, Jo, I
believe you know Doris.

- I thought dozens of
us were tested positive.

Where's everyone else?

- Um, well...

Ingrid would not
quit, and Edna...

Her father works
for American Radium.

- I say they're in denial.

- Yes, or they took the money.

- And why shouldn't we?

I have a family.

- With the 300 we could live the next two years in peace.

- An illusion of peace.

- In this offer, American Radium

is denying the harmful
effects of radium.

They're trying to silence you.

They must be stopped.

- By us?
- Precisely.

- Wiley, how?

- We bring a lawsuit
against them.

Force them to recognize radium is an industrial toxin.

The factory will be shut down.

- And how many jobs
will that take away?

- They're toxic jobs.

- Some people need those jobs,

and they're gonna
blame us for this.

- Paula...

I know you're here for a reason.

- Sounds hard.

We just need help with
the medical bills.

- It is hard.

But if you commit,
we can find a lawyer

and sue American Radium for the compensation you deserve.

- Look at us.

How are you gonna
find us a lawyer?

- In a past life I was a lawyer.

- Is she serious?

- But it was just
so much shouting.

- Girls, powerful women behind the Consumer's League

like Alice Hamilton are with us.

Trust me.

[dial whirring]
[phone ringing]

- Hi, my name is Bessie Cavallo.

I'm with the Consumer's
League of New Jersey.

I worked at American
Radium Corporation

and I was seeking a lawyer--

- [Caller] We're not getting involved in this.

- Hello?

I'm sorry?
- How old are you?

- I'm 17.

I'm seeking a lawyer to--

Hello?

- [Female Caller] I'm
sorry honey, honestly.

It's not you, it's
what you're up against.

- [Male Caller] American
Radium's a good company.

Why are you stirring things up?

- Imagine this, okay?

A sunny studio, young
women working so hard

painting watch dials, instructed to lick the brush.

- Whatever it takes,
you understand?

- The paint, poison.

The employer, American Radium.

- [Roeder] We can't be undermined by a young girl.

Her name is Bessie Cavallo.

- [Wiley] Hello?

Can you connect me with Mr.Henry Berry, Newark, New Jersey?

- [Operator] Just
a minute, please.

[light music]

- [Josephine Voiceover]
Beautiful as a woman

in her moments in time.

A thousand beads of thought on a white string.

Stones of sunlight
pile up in heaven.

They take the shapes of light.

- Hey, will you help me practice my feeling spaces?

- I'm studying.

- I have to be ready
to be discovered.

Come on, just one round.

- Action, sorrow.

Shock.

Melancholy.

Serenity, revulsion, rage.

Passion.

Ennui.

- En what?

- Ennui.

It's infinite boredom.

[sighing]

- Great, Miss Cavallo.

Producers will be in touch.

- Thank you.

- [Receptionist] Consumer's League, how can I help you?

- I want you all
to meet Mr. Berry.

He's gonna represent you.

- Hello, ladies.

Please call me Henry.

I feel as if I already know you.

- He looks too young
to be a lawyer.

- I just passed
the bar, actually.

But don't worry, I studied

all about workplace
injury at school.

Now, once that we prove
radium is poisonous,

we can win by proving
that American Radium

has known of the
danger for years.

- We can prove that?

- Yes, they did a
study years ago.

The Drinker Report.

- They knew about
this before we did?

- Do we have that report?

- No.

If American Radium paid
for it, they own it.

- Own research?
- That's absurd!

- It's like owning gravity.

- Katherine Drinker isn't even allowed to talk about it.

- Don't worry, three weeks from now, we'll be in court.

And let me just say, as the father of three daughters,

I'm honored to be a
part of your fight.

[dramatic music]

- [Driver] Hey, that's her.

Cavallo girl.

Boss wouldn't mind if we
clipped her, would he?

[engine revving]

That big head
belongs on her knees.

Go, go, go!

- Hey, watch out!

- Get out of the road! - We know where you live!

[lively music]

- [Bessie] Thank you for
coming with me tonight.

- Finally I get to see what all this commie fuss is about.

[people chattering]

- We made it through this year.

Hi!

[laughing]

- Why don't you
guys start, 10...

- [All] Nine, eight, seven, six,

five, four, three, two, one!

Happy new year!

[people cheering]

- Happy new year.
- Happy new year.

- Happy new year.

- Hey, no more for
you, no more for you.

- Hey, hey, hey, you
know you like that.

- Everybody, comerades!

- Speech!
- Speech!

[laughing]

- This year, I wanted
to leave the smog

to be discovered
and go to Hollywood.

- Never to be seen again.

[laughing]

- Never to be seen again!

But, instead, I saw America for the first time.

I saw it evil.

But you all taught me so much.

I am going to make
American Radium

pay for what they've done.

- Tell 'em Bessie! - Yeah, and we'll be heard!

- Yeah!
- Yeah!

[door crashing]

- On the ground, commies!

[people shouting]

- Get Jo!

Get Jo out of here right now!

- Come on, Jo.

Let's go, Bessie!

- I'm exercising my right to peaceful assembly!

- Let's go.

- Come on, we have to go! - Etta!

- I said get down!

[people shouting]

- Etta, Etta!
- Commie scum!

- No!

- We have a right to be here!

I'm sorry.

- Miss Cavallo,
you're under arrest.

- How does he know your name?

Dammit Bess!

- I'm sorry.

[shutter clicking]

[somber music]

- Everything's falling apart.

I'm so sorry.

I didn't know they
could do that.

- They can do
anything they want.

That's why we have to make surewe capture our side of this.

- Where did you learn
to use a camera?

- My family owned a
photo studio in Tulsa.

Oklahoma.

Grew up with it.

- Why did you leave Oklahoma?

- Um...

'Bout six and a half years ago,

the police and all the deputies,

they burnt down the
whole neighborhood.

They said a black boy
attacked a white girl.

- Oh my God.

Can't the government
do something?

- Great War planes flew overhead, dropping firebombs.

- What do you mean?

- It was the government, Bess.

More than a thousand
of our homes destroyed.

- Why is there so much
wrong in the world

that no one knows about?

- It's easier to believe stories

that make us feel safe.

- I don't feel very
safe right now.

What if no one believes us?

What if they believe
American Radium?

- Don't give them a choice.

Is there anyone on the inside's got nothing to lose?

[somber music]

[baton rattling]

- [Cop] Your charges
didn't stick.

You're free to go.

- Be safe, Etta.
- You be safe, too.

- Can I come in?

How's your bath?

- Not in the mood.

- You okay?

- If I didn't have
to look out for you,

and all the stupid
things you do,

I don't think I could
keep going with this.

- What are you talking
about, the lawsuit?

- No, this.

This slow motion death sentence.

Why not get it over with?

- Stop, you're scaring me.

- You scare me when your
head is in the clouds.

When you yell at
police officers.

What's gonna happen
to you when I'm gone?

- Jo, get out of the tub.

- We have to sell
back the radio.

- That doesn't matter.

I'm sorry.

- It's okay.

[light music]

- Jo, will you be
ready in five minutes?

I don't want to be late for our first day of court.

- Ow!

[gasping]

A piece of my jaw fell out.

- Jo!

No, no!

Josephine, come on.

Come on, come here.

We gotta get you changed before court, you have blood--

I'm gonna go get
her some clothes.

- She's not going!

- What, why?

- We're going to the hospital.

Are you coming?

- But we have to be there.

We have to.

- She's your only sister!

- That's why we're doing this!

- It's your choice. - Just let Bessie go to court.

- Jo! - It's okay, I'll be fine.

- [Grandpa] Come on.

- I'll come as soon as I can.

Jo...

[dramatic music]

- [Reporter] The trial
of the Radium Girls

versus American
Radium begins today.

Although several dial painters on the east coast

have reportedly died
suspicious deaths,

the cause of their illness is still widely disputed.

- Dip, lick, paint.

Dip, lick, paint.

Dip, lick, paint.

Repeat, repeat, repeat.

One penny per face.

Now look at my face.

[gavel banging]

- My knee aches something awful.

No one believed me until
I was holding my son,

and it just gave out.

Next thing I know, I'm
at the doctor's office

having a cast put on.

[gavel banging]

- One time I asked if the paint

could be why I was breaking out.

And Mrs. Butkiss
ate a whole mouthful

of Undark off the spatula to show us it was safe.

She said it would put
a glow in my cheeks.

[gavel banging]

- [Paula] This is awful.

[dramatic music]

- The autopsy results wereconfirmed by three laboratories.

The bones of the already
deceased dial painters

are radioactive, and will be for another thousand years.

There's no doubt in my mind that chronic exposure

to radium caused the
death of Mary Cavallo,

and is killing the
women before you now.

On average, they have less than one year to live.

Radium poisoning has
ravaged their bodies.

- Radium will certainly deliver its victim to death

sooner or later.

- [Miriam] But they're still saying it's harmless.

- Well, Clara can barely walk

and Ruth's jaw is blown
up like a balloon.

- I'm scared.

- What's gonna happen to us?

- I dunno.

My husband thinks
it's all made up.

[horn blaring]

- I dunno about you, but I'm not going back in there.

- I don't want to
get in trouble.

[glass smashing]

- Oh my God!
- Bessie!

[cackling]

- What's happened?

- How could anybody do this?

- [Josephine] I don't know.

- How can anyone
hate us this much?

- [Reporter] The Consumer's League, led by Katherine Wiley

has the ear of Walter
Litman, editor of one

of the most powerful
newspapers in New York.

The million dollar question becomes did the corporation

knowingly expose their
workers to the toxins?

Social reformer and scientist Dr. Alice Hamilton

has publicly attacked the lucrative radium industry.

- [Alice Voiceover]
My dear Katherine,

as your Harvard colleague,

I must let you know that the New Jersey Department of Labor

has a copy of your report.

It shows that every girl
is in perfect health.

How can Arthur Roeder
do such a thing?

He forged a report in your name.

Some action must be taken.

Most sincerely, Alice Hamilton.

- I have examined the women you see before you.

I have examined their coworkers.

They suffer from
syphilis, nothing more.

Radium poisoning is an invention

of fame-hungry doctors
itching for a discovery.

- Do you have a license to practice medicine, Mr. Flint?

- As a professor at Columbia University, and a physiologist

with the United States
Public Health Service,

I hold a doctorate--

- Are you a medical doctor, sir?

[sighing]

- As I was saying,
I hold a doctorate--

- Are you a medical doctor, yes or no, Mr. Flint?

- No.

- And yet, you performed

medical examinations
on the plaintiffs?

- Yes.

[gavel banging]

- Mr. Roeder, were you
aware that Dr. Flint

was not a licensed physician?

- I'm sorry?

- Can you read the question back to Mr. Roeder?

- "Were you aware that Dr. Flint

"was not a licensed physician?"

- I assure you, Dr. Flint

is a scientist of
the highest caliber.

- Did you pay Dr. Flint to diagnose the plaintiffs

with syphilis in order to smear their reputations?

- No.

- When did you
first become aware

of the consequences of radium?

- These deaths are tragic.

But let's be clear, Mr. Berry,

there are many
competing theories--

- Mr. Roeder, did you commissiona study of the radium paint

two years before the
death of Mary Cavallo?

- I did.

The Drinker Report
showed nothing amiss.

People are so quick
to jump on things

that they just don't understand.

But the fact is,
this radium energy

is one of the most
vital therapeutic agents

we have at our command.

Even if there were
harmful effects,

American Radium cannot beblamed for scientific progress.

- Arthur Roeder, president of American Radium,

maintains that the women suffer from Menierial disease.

- I don't believe it.

How dare he?

[tense music]

- You're trespassing.

- I'm here to see Leech.

- He's been out for weeks.

- Where is he?

Mrs. Butkiss, please!

I need to find him.

Please, I will never ask
you for anything again.

- [laughs] Oh, you were always one for melodrama.

He's at St. Francis.

We'll all be in the end.

- Thank you.

[dramatic music]

[gasping]

- It's nice of you to visit.

None of the other girls have.

- Will you help us?

- If a dying man
could be of help.

- I found something
that Mary wrote.

It said you warned her.

- Yes, I remember.

- You knew it was dangerous?

- Yes.

- Did Arthur Roeder?
- Yes.

- Years ago, we hired a team of Harvard scientists.

A married couple, the Drinkers.

They were the ones
who first told us.

- Years ago.

Years.

Why didn't you tell us?

- I don't know, I was scared.

I didn't know what to do.

The business got bigger
than I ever imagined.

I invented Undark.

That snake took it
all away from me.

- Arthur Roeder?

- Never trust a money man.

Never have a partner.

- Help me take
American Radium down.

- [Leech] No.

You must be careful.

- Please, Walter!

Please.

We exhumed Mary.

She died from radium poisoning, just like you are.

- You'll never win.

- I'm doing it, no matter what.

If you loved her, please!

[light music]

- Okay, okay.

I'll do it, Bessie.

- Okay.

Leech says that
he'll tell the truth,

that American Radium forcedthose scientists to keep quiet.

They knew that it was toxic,

and they told us it was safe.

- Bessie, this is huge!
- They knew.

- [Judge] You swear to tell the truth, the whole truth

and nothing but the
truth, so help you God?

- I do.

- Your name?

- Bessie Patricia Cavallo.

- And when did you begin working at American Radium?

- Three years ago,

after my sister
Mary passed away.

My other sister, Josephine,

had already worked
there for two years.

- And where is Josephine today?

- She is recovering from
bone removal surgery

due to radium necrosis.

[jury mumbling]

- Objection!

- Your Honor, radium necrosis

is the hospital's officialdiagnosis of Josephine Cavallo.

- I'll allow it.
- But your Honor--

- Overruled!

- During your time
at American Radium,

were you ever made aware

of the dangerous
nature of radium paint?

- No.

- [Berry] When did
you learn the truth?

- When we autopsied Mary.

But the former president
of American Radium

and the inventor of
the paint, Mr. Leech,

warned Mary a long time ago.

I read about it in her diary.

- Your Honor, we
submit the diary

of Mary Cavallo as evidence.

- Objection.

A teenage girl's diary

is hardly reliable
evidence, your Honor.

- I'll allow it.

- What did you do when
you read this, Bessie?

- I asked Mr. Leech
if it was true.

He said yes.

[jury muttering]

He warned Mary.

American Radium knew
that it was dangerous

years before she died.

[jury chattering]

- I have nothing further.

- Can you prove these outrageousallegations, Miss Cavallo?

- No, I can't.

But Mr. Leech can.

[jury muttering]

- Cavallo, how did you get Arthur Leech to testify?

- [Reporter] Miss Cavallo, what about your fellow workers

who will lose their jobs?

- [Reporter] Do you really think

you can beat American Radium?

- Radium Girls, 50 dollars

for exclusive access
to your story.

You'll be the face of the New Jersey Evening Star.

- Hey, my sister needs
this factory job!

Don't shut it down.

- I'm doing a piece.

Tell me, how do you
prepare for death?

- I don't think about it much.

I haven't had the time.

- If it were up to me, I would charge them with murder.

- [Reporter] Miss
Cavallo, how do you feel

about American Radium
covering up the truth?

- [Reporter] Miss Cavallo, how does it feel

to be leading the way?

[dramatic music]

- Listen, listen.

"Public outcry on behalf
of the Radium Girls.

"Marie Curie, the scientist who discovered radium,

"has commented on
their tragic fate.

"Curie says there is no way to remove the substance

"from a human body
once it has entered."

- [Josephine] What on earth are we supposed to do?

- "Dear Radium Girls,
I am your same age

"at school in Paris, and I read about you in the papers.

"Here's holy water that
I got from the Lord.

"You are in my prayers,
sincerely, Martin."

Here, close your eyes.

Oh, I'm sorry.

Here, I'll get it.

- I bet you could score
a fancy audition now.

- I wouldn't take it.

- I'll give you a
million dollars, kid.

What do you say?

- Why, thank you sir, but...

I wouldn't do it for a billion.

- What about a trillion?

- No, not even that.

Is that crazy?

Well, maybe a trillion.

We're gonna win.

[light music]

[phone ringing]

- Hello?

- [Butkiss] This is Anne Butkiss

from the American
Radium factory.

There's something I need
to talk to you about.

[people chattering]

[gavel banging]

- [Judge] Walter Leech, do you swear to tell the truth,

the whole truth, and nothingbut the truth, so help you God?

- I do.

[coughing]

- [Berry] How long
have you been aware

of the dangers of radium?

- I always believed it to be a great medical good.

That's why I invested in radium mines 20 years ago.

- [Berry] And how were you acquainted with Mary Cavallo

in the years leading
up to her death?

- She was, um...

She was one dial
painter among hundreds.

The rumor was she had syphilis.

Apparently she had
quite the reputation.

- [Berry] Did you ever warn her

against ingesting
the radium paint?

- Well, at one time I
did warn a girl or two

against licking the brushes.

You see, the human mouth is teeming with bacteria.

Licking unclean brushes
is unsanitary behavior.

- Unsanitary? - That's right, Mr. Berry.

- Unsanitary.

[jury muttering]

- [Berry] I have nothing else.

- [Judge] Order, order please!

- You are suffering
from the same

supposed radium poisoning yourself, are you not?

- I am.

- If you had been
aware of the danger,

wouldn't you have been
able to save yourself?

- That's correct.

[jury muttering]

- [Judge] Order
in the courtroom!

[gavel banging]

[sobbing]

- Mr. Berry, I'm
Katherine Drinker.

[sobbing]

- Bessie, I think you're brave.

[somber music]

[gavel banging]

- [Judge] Will you be calling another witness, Mr. Berry?

- We call Dr. Katherine Drinker of Harvard University.

Will you state your name and occupation for the record?

- Dr. Katherine Drinker.

I'm a professor at the Harvard School of Industrial Hygiene.

- Dr. Drinker, can
you tell the court

when you first becameacquainted with American Radium?

- Four years ago, American Radium hired my team

to investigate whether their radium paint could be harmful.

- What were your results?

- The workers were all luminous.

Their hair, faces, hands, arms, necks, dresses,

underclothes, even
their corsets glowed.

Of the 22 employees we examined,

none had normal blood levels.

We found the trouble
due to radium,

and recommended
precautions to take.

- And what did American Radium do with this information?

- They found our
results tentative

and maintained there
was nothing harmful

anywhere in the works.

- [Berry] Do you stand
by your findings?

- [Drinker] Of course.

- [Berry] Then why didn't you publish the study?

- We wanted to.

American Radium found thestudy too sensitive to release.

They would sue us

and cut off their support to our university if we did.

[jury muttering]

However, listening to testimony this past week...

I could not stand by once again.

- Thank you, I have
nothing further.

[jury chattering]

- Um, permission to
approach the bench?

- I'll allow it.

- Your Honor... [mumbling]

- [Berry] Your Honor,
that's not fair.

- Mind your tone, counselor.

[gavel banging]

- American Radium has requesteda recess for 18 weeks.

A key witness to the
defense is abroad.

- The bank is coming
after our house.

- Henry, how is this legal?

- The recess is granted and we'll reconvene then.

Court is dismissed.

[gavel banging]

[jury chattering]

- We're running out of time. - We'll fight it.

- How?

- In the court of
public opinion.

[light music]

[phone ringing]

- [Radio Host] The
nation has rallied

in support of the Radium Girls

in the wake of the postponement of their case.

Arthur Roeder has resigned amidst controversy

as other dial painters from Illinois to Connecticut

are now coming forward.

- [Supporter] Dear sisters, the New Jersey League

of Women Voters is working to set a legal precedent

for radium toxicity,
because of you.

- [Dial Painter] Did you
know everyone in Ottowa

is talking about your case?

- [Supporter] My
dearest Miss Cavallos...

- [Dial Painter] We are
dial painters like you.

- [Dial Painter] I was
only 15 at the time.

Dial painting paid very well.

- [Dial Painter] I myself have had 19 operations.

- [Dial Painter] I was
put in a steel cast

from my chest to my knees.

My doctor said the radium honeycombed my jaw bone.

- [Dial Painter] One of my legs

is now shorter than the other.

- [Dial Painter]
We had big dreams.

- [Dial Painter] Thank you for standing up for us.

- [Amelia] Yours in
fighting spirit, Amelia.

[dramatic music]

- Mary, is that you?

- No.

- Leave, spirit!

- Why did you do it?

- My sister...

She was dying of cancer.

Radium was the miracle cure.

- What?

- But I was too late.

I'm always too late.

But American Radium will take care of her children

for the rest of their lives, and their children's lives.

- She loved you!

- Forgive me, Mary.

- Maat, will you break
the power of Satan

from his assignments
in Walter Leech's life?

The goddess of
truth is watching.

Our bones will glow
forever, you know.

- Yes, I know.

Goodbye, sisters.

[light music]

[knocking]

- Delivery.
- Hey Walt.

- The postmark says California.

- California!

- [Walt] I got your
message, what's up?

[mumbling]

- Um, Wiley called a
meeting for tomorrow.

Maybe she got a court date set.

The papers say that it could be any day now, so...

Finally, this is what
we've been waiting for.

[soft music]

What's going on?

- Girls, this is
federal judge Clark.

- Was a court date set?

- I have been following
your painful story,

so I took it upon myself
to negotiate a deal

with American Radium
on your behalf.

10 thousand, each.

- Dollars?

- Yes.

And they'll pay for all
your medical expenses.

- And are they admitting
that radium is toxic?

- Oh, they'll shut
down the factory.

Don't worry, it's all in there.

- Okay, um...

I'm sorry, but what about getting radium banned?

That was--
- $10,000, Bessie!

- Thank God! [laughs]

- This is about more
than just one factory.

There are future lives at stake.

- Our lives are at stake.

- American Radium has
a team of attorneys,

the best in the state,

with unlimited resources
at their disposal.

- [Wiley] They could
drag this out for years.

- We don't have years.

- All they have to do
is run out the clock.

It will be brutal.

- My father has mortgaged our house to the gills.

I don't want my boys growing up on the street.

[dramatic music]

- I just wanted it
to mean something.

- It does.

He says they'll shut
down the factory.

That's good, Bessie.

- So this is how it ends?

- Can I tell you a secret

I learned a long time ago?

It never ends.

[humming]

- Do you mind if I sit?

- You wanna help?

- I'm too tired.

- You're too young to
be tired, my child.

Come on... [speaks
foreign language]

The fishes, he's no
tired, he run away.

You see, no like my worm.

[chuckling]

Bessie.

Sometime these eyes too old to see something, no?

I'm sorry.

Forgive nonno?

- Yeah.

Of course.

- I believe you.

I believe everything now.

[dramatic music]

- [Josephine Voicover] I wish you could see yourself

the way I see you.

As a warrior, a goddess,

full of power and light.

A ticker tape
parade in your eyes.

[laughing]

Did you know some people call The Book Of The Dead

The Book Of Coming
Forth Into Light?

That's beautiful.

Oh look, I love this part.

[mumbling]

Mayest thou be at peace with me.

May I advance upon the earth.

May I crush the evil one.

May my arms become spears to thwart crocodiles.

May I live in the
season of revolution.

May the light of my soul
detect shadows of evil.

The doors of perception open.

- Hey!

- [Josephine Voiceover] What was hidden has been revealed.

I am restless.

I smell a change coming.

The shape of truth is coming.

Let me fly to the
far edge of sky.

Let me rest in the
folds of the earth.

I am a child of eternity.

[spirited music]

[light music]