Mark Reviews Movies: RBG

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Capsule review by Mark Dujsik | May 3, 2018

Directors Julie Cohen and Betsy West aren't interested in debating the political positions of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Their documentary RBG opens with an audio montage of various right-wing figures calling the Supreme Court justice such things as a "monster" and "anti-American," and that's about the end of any dissent to Ginsburg's work or beliefs. This is fine, because the rest of the film shows these occasionally recognizable voices of dissent to be hyperbolic, misinformed, lying, or maybe far closer to their descriptions of Ginsburg than the justice herself.

This is a straightforward, biographical documentary, following Ginsburg's story from her birth and childhood in Brooklyn to her current status as the most passionate dissenting voice on the bench of the nation's highest court and an unlikely cultural icon. We hear from friends, family members, colleagues, journalists, and Ginsburg herself, who, at 84, seems to show no signs of stopping. As long as you're open to the notion that democracy depends people of varying political positions openly debating the direction of a nation, this is a promising sign for the future of the United States.

There's a good balance of the justice's personal and professional lives here, from her years as an attorney working to bring sex discrimination cases before the Supreme Court to her marriage to Martin, a tax attorney with a sense of humor that served as a juxtaposition to Ginsburg's sober, thoughtful manner. The film provides recordings of Ginsburg's arguments to the Supreme Court, which are met by challenges of various degrees of sexism by the more conservative justices of the time. We also get interviews with the people whom she represented and with whom she worked, giving us better concept of Ginsburg's strategy and beliefs—both on a social and personal level.

The big picture, though, is of a tireless advocate for justice, who works with little respite and has come to appreciate the ways she has become idol (The filmmakers appear to capture the first time Ginsburg sees Kate McKinnon's impersonation of her on "Saturday Night Live," and the result is as endearing as one might expect). RBG won't change any minds, especially in this era of divisiveness and with the growing hostility from opponents of Ginsburg's way of thinking, but as an examination of this woman's life and work, the film offers enough context for us to comprehend the extent of her impact.

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