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Worth - film review

 Made for Netflix drama called 'Worth' is based on the events of Sep 11 2001.  The movie tries to address the quintessential philosophical question - How much is a human life worth?

Lead role is played by Michael Keaton as the democratic leaning Jewish lawyer Ken Feinberg, based in Washington to serve as special master - a role that determined the monetary allocation for loss of life in the attack to the victims' families.  

Many a research suggests that if an average adult was fried to a crisp and its mineral and metal content weighed it would amount to a princely sum of about $5, at today's market rate.

Of the 3,000 or so people that died in the attack (and likely were fried to a crisp) and the couple thousand more that suffer health issues as a direct result of that attack, the job for President Bush was to determine a solution that did not take down the American airline industry or put millions out of work as a result of this tragedy.

So while the cases and situations of victims were too many to count the net result had to be a value for each life lost that the family could accept and move on.  The primary basis for this calculation that Feinberg used was the estimated loss from future earnings per life lost.

The message the movie imparts is that there are no winners here and it is not about a victory of any sort but simply an attempt to do the right thing.

And in so doing there had to be a calm, calculating voice that remained impartial but focused on efficaciously resolving the quagmire of expectations, emotions like fear and anger, business risk to the presidency and get the victims' families what they might be entitled to.

The average amount in case of death due to the attack came to around $2M tax free to the victims' family.  The determination was made in two years time after the attack took place.

Watchable movie.

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