Directed by: Mimi Leder
Screenplay by: Daniel Stiepleman (Justice Ginsburg’s nephew)
Cast: Felicity Jones, Armie Hammer, Cailee Spaeny, Justin Theroux, Stephen Root, Sam Waterston and Kathy Bates
A stunning flash of bright blue amid a sea of grey, heralds the arrival of Ruth Bader Ginsburg onto the screen and into the 1956 hallowed halls of the Harvard Law School. Married with a baby daughter, she was one of only nine women begrudgingly allowed into a school that didn’t even provide them with a women’s restroom.
Skillfully executed, highly inspirational, and touchingly sentimental, this beautiful feel good film will stay with you long after the lights come on and you leave the theater. Unlike Julie Cohen and Betsy West’s RGB, the superb new documentary about Justice Ginsburg, On the Basis of Sex
In the hands of a less talented director this film could have wound up being nothing more than another boring history lesson, instead it becomes a solidly crafted soaring biopic of one of the most brilliant and beguiling legal minds of modern times.
Here’s The Storyline
The film follows the trials and tribulations of young Brooklyn-born Ruth Bader Ginsburg (Jones) as she struggles against the rampant sexism of her times to obtain a Law School degree, take care of her ailing husband Marty (Hammer), a young child (Spaeny), and fight overwhelming odds to enter the legal field as a career. It is the sort of challenge that either builds character or destroys it.
Out of school and unable to find work as an attorney; at a time when female lawyers are all but unheard of, she turns to teaching law instead. Frustrated by the inequities around her and aware of the changing mores in an evolving society, she passionately tries to emphasize to her rebellious young daughter the value in changing the law, and not just hearts and minds for the sake of change.
When in 1972, her husband brings her a case that could set the stage for overturning a century of sex discrimination, it’s eventually her daughter who convinces her to take up the cause pro bono and argue the legality of the law before the Supreme Court.
This film is compelling and inspirational, filled with wisdom, and the kind of humanity missing in our ever-increasing turbulent world. Director Mimi Leder (Deep Impact, The Peacemaker) hit another home run with his one.
Felicity Jones is immensely impressive as the young iconic Ginsburg, you can actually see flashes of the Justice in some of the legal encounters. Armie Hammer and Cailee Spaeny are equally impressive, turning in great performances. Actually, the whole cast works like a well-tuned ensemble, they’re all a joy to watch.
My take… If you can’t already tell, I really liked the movie. It was time a good dramatic biopic came along. See the film, you’ll enjoy it.
