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On the Basis of Sex
Aug. 3rd, 2019 02:53 pmMy favorite momentOn the Basis of Sex, a 2018 biopic about Ruth Bader Ginsberg, is the part where Ginsberg and her daughter argue about a book report the daughter has been writing: “This is A work!” the daughter cries, and Ginsberg agrees that of course it is, but what’s the point of getting an A on a faulty premise: you can’t claim Atticus Finch is a role model for a lawyer, not after the way he conspires to conceal Boo Radley’s murder of Bob Ewell!
It’s one of the few moments that is genuinely surprising in a movie that otherwise plays it fairly safe - which is why, although the movie is smart, engaging, and well-made, it remains only a good movie and not a great one.
It is a good movie, though, and worth seeing if you’ve got an interest in biopics in general or Ruth Bader Ginsberg in particular. Ginsberg’s relationship with her husband is the rock of the movie (it’s so refreshing to see a man who not only loves his wife but supports her career to such an extent that he has no trouble playing second fiddle).
I also enjoyed the appearance of Dorothy Kenyon, a firebrand lawyer of an earlier generation who is Ginsberg’s idea of a lawyer role model: a blunt, straight-talking woman who just about tells them they’ll lose their case, just like she lost the cases she tried to make against sex discrimination, but nonetheless leans on the ACLU to throw its support beyong Ginsberg’s work when she sees even a glimmer of a hope that Ginsberg might win.
And I did like the fact that, although the Atticus Finch gun was (as it were) on the mantelpiece, Ginsberg did not in fact have to compromise her integrity or understanding of proper law ethics in order to make her case. In fact, it’s her ethics that allow the case to move forward. When the ACLU wants to focus on a different sex discrimination case, Ginsberg’s client balks: Ginsberg has explained the issues at stake with the case so well that her client insists on seeing it through.
And, of course, the rest is history.
It’s one of the few moments that is genuinely surprising in a movie that otherwise plays it fairly safe - which is why, although the movie is smart, engaging, and well-made, it remains only a good movie and not a great one.
It is a good movie, though, and worth seeing if you’ve got an interest in biopics in general or Ruth Bader Ginsberg in particular. Ginsberg’s relationship with her husband is the rock of the movie (it’s so refreshing to see a man who not only loves his wife but supports her career to such an extent that he has no trouble playing second fiddle).
I also enjoyed the appearance of Dorothy Kenyon, a firebrand lawyer of an earlier generation who is Ginsberg’s idea of a lawyer role model: a blunt, straight-talking woman who just about tells them they’ll lose their case, just like she lost the cases she tried to make against sex discrimination, but nonetheless leans on the ACLU to throw its support beyong Ginsberg’s work when she sees even a glimmer of a hope that Ginsberg might win.
And I did like the fact that, although the Atticus Finch gun was (as it were) on the mantelpiece, Ginsberg did not in fact have to compromise her integrity or understanding of proper law ethics in order to make her case. In fact, it’s her ethics that allow the case to move forward. When the ACLU wants to focus on a different sex discrimination case, Ginsberg’s client balks: Ginsberg has explained the issues at stake with the case so well that her client insists on seeing it through.
And, of course, the rest is history.
