flash of genius

ever wondered who invented the intermittent windshield wiper? me neither, but this film shares that story with us. turns out that the story of its inventor is actually pretty interesting. we follow kinnear's character as he sees the need and goes about inventing a solution with his family for those pesky windshield wipers. we see as he shows his idea to the ford motor company. the ford company then does what all corporations do: they take the idea and destroy the little guy. kinnear is not willing to sit back and let them steal his idea and ends up bringing the ford company to court- something unheard of at the time. well, suing a multinational corporation is no easy task and he must decide if getting credit is worth sacrificing his marriage for. this is a pretty interesting little film that is enjoyable to watch, though the real story seems to be glossed over to make way for the hollywoodization of the facts. we see the inventor as the hero and the ford company as the monolithic villain. its portrayed very black and white with no real shades of grey. granted, that might have been how it actually was, but the whole film seems too simple and cliche.