Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s early days tell a compelling tale
Ruth Bader Ginsburg is most definitely in the air at this point in our nation’s history. The doc RBG was a hit last year, and her every move (usually health related) makes the front page of all our virtual newspapers. With On the Basis of Sex, we now have a feature film to continue the legacy building of this legendary figure.
I hesitate to call this a bio-pic; it’s very selective in the story it’s trying to tell, both of RBG the lawyer and her first big case. While her early years studying to become a lawyer–first at Harvard and later Columbia–make up a good portion of the opening part of the film, the rest is concerned with a narrow but important precedent Ginsburg is trying establish.
Making a legal story interesting–tax law, no less–has to be hard, but On the Basis of Sex pulls it off. Most of the action takes place outside of an actual courtroom but rather in classrooms, homes, and offices. This a story of people as much as abstract legal theories.
Felicity Jones holds up well under the weight of such a beloved and substantial character. Without her, this whole enterprise falls apart. She displays a feistiness straight out of Brooklyn, with a mind as sharp and determined as a dagger.
Cailee Spaeny might be 21 in real life, but she pulls off the sassy, 15-year-old Jane Ginsburg perfectly. One of the best teen characters of recent cinema. Justin Theroux is perfectly cast. His abrasive charm fits the ACLU’s Mel Wulf to a tee. And never did I think Armie Hammer would be as good as he is in the role of supportive husband. He really captures what I imagine the real-life Marty to be like.
Jack Reynor as the young opposition lawyer is so much better here than in Kin (which was still a fine movie). He looks like he was pulled straight out of an episode of Mad Men. Also representing the government is Sam Waterston, and knowing what a lefty he is makes it all the more compelling that he sells out being the grand holder of misogynist tradition. Plus, law.
The cast makes this movie, but the true-life story it’s based on anchors the entire affair. Over and over the audience is made to feel incredulous that these rights were only won by women in the last half century. It’s mind boggling, and a testament to the problematic history of our country.
On the Basis of Sex more than holds its own in the cinema of biography as well as history. Fans of Ruth Bader Ginsburg will be pleased, and audiences will leave the theater knowing how far we’ve come and how far we’ve yet to go.