Insiders typically refer to the nine U.S. Supreme Court Justices simply using their initials. If you know the difference between SGB and AMK, give yourself a nerdy pat on the back. Only one set of letters has transcended the insular world of Court-watchers to become a cultural touchstone: RBG. The documentary feature of the same name nimbly combines hagiography and restraint in telling the story of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the 107th person and second woman, to sit on the high court. “RBG” is at times engrossing, even to legal academics who already know the plot. At others, it reads like a paint-by-numbers account of a personal history that deserves more. I therefore concur with the vison of co-directors Julie Cohenand Betsy Westand dissent with respect to their execution.
The film hits all the narrative points that any accounting of Justice Ginsburg’s life must include. The immeasurable bond with her husband of 56 years, Marty. The odd couple friendship with ideological nemesis Antonin Scalia. The struggle for women’s formal equality before the court she would eventually join. Yet others, perhaps less known, emerge and humanize its subject. “RBG” is at its best when it dwells less on Ginsburg’s iconoclasm and more on the relationships that made her stance possible. Imagine the difficulty that a proto-feminist must have felt upon leaving Harvard Law School (after becoming the only woman in her cohort to join its vaunted Law Review) for Columbia because her husband would be practicing in New York. We learn in fact that she did so not to stand by her man but out of a selflessness that would be repaid when Marty helped support her national achievements.
Aided by exceptional archival film footage and photographs, Cohen and West reveal Ruth Bader to be an unlikely candidate for her eventual mantle. She was possessed of a brilliance checked only by reticence for the spotlight. That and a pesky patriarchy. She was no Thurgood Marshall, whose story was seemingly predetermined for cinematic treatment. Yet she crafted words at oral argument, in briefs, and in judicial rulings that float across the screen with devastating effect. Ginsburg revealed hidden truths that are being retold with added horrors through #MeToo. For all of the nation’s reverence of the maternal, laws of men had relegated women to subjugated status. Ginsburg’s ability to evoke those realities through an ingenious, meticulous set of cases marks the film’s highest points.
The filmmakers give its central figure plenty of time to convey her own story. But her humility allows the supporting cast room to add colorful flourishes. Standouts include her children, Jane and James, who glorify her work ethic and lambaste her cooking skills. NPR’s legal affairs correspondentNina Totenbergwas a shoo-in for appealing to the tote-carrying crowd. D.C. Circuit Judge Harry Edwards offers scattered anecdotes of his erstwhile colleague with obvious glee. Top honors, though, go to NYU Law professor and sartorial guru Arthur R. Miller. Who knew that a giant of civil procedure could be such a natural in front of the lens?
And here is where I likely break from my kindred spirits in this opinion, er, review. Call me traditionalist or curmudgeonly, but I can no longer abide the “Notorious” moniker. No more tilted crowns, please. No more superimposing the Justice’s face on superheroines. No more marveling at her desire to stay
physically fit. The Cult of Ruth, as it has uncontrollably grown, needs to end. The only moment worth screening is the one in which Ginsburg confirms the silliness of it all by reacting to Kate McKinnon’s caricatured send-up on SNL’s “Weekend Update.” The danger of this pop culture presentation is that, even if Millennials are, against all odds, identifying with one of The Nine, Ginsburg ends up infantilized, reduced to isn’t-she-adorable montages. We’re talking about one of the most gifted civil rights litigators to ever argue a case, one of the most consequential members of two courts that have unnecessarily become more and more consequential to our daily lives. If only Cohen and West had mustered the same courage to excise the first and final five minutes, “RBG” could have been even more affecting, necessary film.
CLGJr Verdict: A must-see in theaters only for the truly SCOTUS-obsessed filmgoer. This CNN Films production often feels better suited to the small screen but just as frequently takes flight thanks to its singular star. It is so ordered.
RBG opened Friday, May 4.
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