Flash of Genius (2008)- Greg Kinnear.
In 1964, Dr. Robert Kearns filed for and and received a patent on the intermittent windshield wiper.
In 1969, Ford began using the system without bothering to pay Kearns for his invention...indeed, Ford claimed they themselves had come up with the idea.
Kearns, a man of great persistence and tunnel vision, spent the next two decades pursuing his case against Ford (and later, Chrysler) which he finally won in 1990 (against Chrysler, 1995).
This is a modern David and Goliath story and Kinnear brings the perfect blend of humility and arrogance to the character.
Humility in the sense that really all Kearns wanted was the admission that he was the inventor, arrogance in that he was willing to sacrifice everything- his wife leaves him halfway through his quest- in a seemingly hopeless fight against one of the world's largest corporations.
A simple and straightforward film, Flash of Genius glosses over the far more complex story of Kearns to make an object lesson of how right can triumph over might.
In a time when seeing the gray in the middle is fashionable, the unswerving black v. white of this story is refreshing.
Not a great movie but an interesting and uplifting story.
Watch it...you've wasted two hours in worse ways.
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