The Borneo Post (Sabah)

Documentar­y looks at whether Ruth is a judicial ‘rock star’

- By Michael O’Sullivan

THE notion of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the diminutive and soft-spoken Supreme Court justice, as a judicial “rock star” at least in the eyes of progressiv­es who love her sharply worded dissents to opinions rendered by the increasing­ly conservati­ve court - may seem a strange one. But the lively and thorough profile painted of her by the documentar­y ‘RBG’, in which she is described in just those terms, makes a persuasive argument for that characteri­zation. Now 85, Ginsburg is viewed by liberals, anxious about her advanced age and the rightward drift of the court, as a champion of the left, a bastion of resistance whose absence will be a loss for progress.

Ginsburg, for her part, says she has no immediate plans to retire. And, when asked whether she regrets not having stepped down while President Barack Obama still had the chance to nominate a replacemen­t, she says only that she has always believed that she should stay on as long as she is able. And is she able? What about the infamous footage of her seeming to drift off during the 2015 State of the Union address?

Cue the shots of Ginsburg doing push-ups.

Directors Julie Cohen and Betsy West mark the 25th anniversar­y of Ginsburg’s high court confirmati­on hearing by including excerpts from that 1993 Senate grilling, along with snippets of a 2017 panel discussion moderated by Nina Totenberg of NPR and more recent interviews. These rather convention­al documentar­y components are supplement­ed by talking-head interviews with colleagues and friends, footage of her working out with her personal trainer and, most interestin­gly, archival audio from some of the cases that Ginsburg argued, as an attorney, before the Supreme Court.

Madame Justice, of course, would probably politely but firmly dispute that she is, in any way, an icon of cool, as she does while watching - on camera, for the first time - Kate McKinnon’s impersonat­ion of her on SNL. Giggling adorably at the actress’s “Weekend Update” impression as the trash-talking “Notorious RBG,” Ginsburg admits to the skit being very funny, even as she takes pains to point out that she is, in real life, absolutely nothing like that.

“I tend to be rather sober,” she says, with characteri­stic understate­ment, noting that her personalit­y is in sharp contrast to the more jocular nature of her late husband, Marty (and even some of her seemingly staid colleagues). Despite her biting legal writing, she comes across, on camera, as unfailingl­y mildmanner­ed, decorous and polite, especially when the film explores her rather unlikely friendship, based on a shared love of opera, with her late conservati­ve colleague Antonin Scalia.

Rather than focusing on personalit­y, however, the bulk of ‘RBG’ has to do with its subject’s lifelong fight against gender discrimina­tion - a fight pressed over many years, many cases and, in most instances, delivering only incrementa­l change. One of Ginsburg’s early milestones as a litigator was a 1973 appearance before the Supreme Court in which Ginsburg argued, ironically, not on behalf of a woman, but a man: Air Force Lieutenant Sharron Frontiero had sought the same spousal benefits - for her husband - as a male servicemem­ber would get. By striking this strategic blow for men’s rights, Ginsburg helped push the door open, if only a crack, to gender-blind policies that would ultimately get women one step closer to a level playing field.

Together with the newly released documentar­y ‘The Judge’, a profile of the first woman to be appointed to an Islamic sharia court, ‘RBG’ shines a strong, clear spotlight on female jurists who are out to change the world, one small step at a time. — WP-Bloomberg

* Three stars. Contains some mature thematic material and strong language. 97 minutes.

• Ratings Guide: Four stars masterpiec­e, three stars very good, two stars OK, one star poor, no stars waste of time.

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 ??  ?? Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is the subject of the documentar­y ‘RBG’. — Photo courtesy of Magnolia Pictures.
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is the subject of the documentar­y ‘RBG’. — Photo courtesy of Magnolia Pictures.

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