If you’ve seen the documentary “RBG” which came out earlier this year, you may be disappointed by this one in comparison, but I think “On the Basis of Sex” is still a very good, entertaining, and informative film. The documentary spans Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s entire life and stars the real RBG (currently Associate Justice of the US Supreme Court), while this film focuses primarily on one landmark case (“Moritz vs. Commissioner of the IRS” in 1972) and Ruth’s family life, especially with her wonderful husband, Marty (Arnie Hammer), and her feisty teen-age daughter, Jane (Cailee Spaeny). The Director (Mimi Leder) gets fine performances from the leads. Felicity Jones’ performance as Ruth Bader Ginsburg is AAW. The screenplay is one of the year’s best, and was written by RBG’s nephew, Daniel Stiepleman.
Ruth was one of very few woman admitted to Harvard Law school. While in law school, she was married to fellow Harvard Law student, Marty, and had two young children. Marty became ill with cancer, and Ruth helped him with his classes so that he could graduate. She needed to move to NYC where Marty had a job as a tax attorney and asked the then-Dean of Harvard Law School, Erwin Griswald (Sam Waterson), to allow her to finish her last year elsewhere and still get a Harvard Law degree (a privilege that male law students had previously been awarded.) Griswald refused, so RBG transferred to Columbia Law School where she graduated first in her class. Despite being extremely qualified, no law firm would hire her due to being female. By default, she became a Professor at Rutgers and Columbia Law Schools, teaching civil procedure. Being held back by sexism, RBG was very motivated to try to improve the considerable impediments to women’s equality so her daughter’s generation would be able to achieve their dreams.
Marty comes to the rescue by paradoxically finding an obscure tax-law case, concerning Charles Moritz (Chris Mulkey), a single male care-taker of his ailing mother. Now working for the US Justice Department, Griswald decides to try the case rather than modify the tax code. Griswald and others feared change in the “natural order of things” (women being exclusively homemakers). The IRS code forbid Chris from claiming a tax-deduction for the care-taking because he was male, while deductions for female care-takers were allowed. Marty and RBG both argued the case and were victorious. This case then led to numerous other legal victories for equal (and especially women’s) rights.
This film is a slick, Hollywood production, but it’s very well done. I’d see it, especially if you haven’t seen the documentary. As Griswald feared, RBG and the numerous legal victories helping to diminish sexism did change society considerably – but life is change and trying to stop it is usually a bad idea, as well as an impossible strategy. However, tragically, we did lose “Ladies Day” at Major League Baseball games!
If you've seen the documentary "RBG" which came out earlier this year, you may be disappointed by this one in comparison, but I think "On the Basis of Sex" is still a very good, entertaining, and informative film. The documentary spans Ruth Bader Ginsburg's entire life and stars the real RBG (currently Associate Justice of the US Supreme Court), while this film focuses primarily on one landmark case ("Moritz vs. Commissioner of the IRS" in 1972) and Ruth's family life, especially with her wonderful husband, Marty (Arnie Hammer), and her feisty teen-age daughter, Jane (Cailee Spaeny). The Director (Mimi Leder) gets fine performances from the leads. Felicity Jones' performance as Ruth Bader Ginsburg is AAW. The screenplay is one of the year's best, and was written by RBG's nephew, Daniel Stiepleman. Ruth was one of very few woman admitted to Harvard Law school. While in law school, she was married to fellow Harvard Law student, Marty, and had two young children. Marty became ill with cancer, and Ruth helped him with his classes so that he could graduate. She needed to move to NYC where Marty had a job as a tax attorney and asked the then-Dean of Harvard Law School, Erwin Griswald (Sam Waterson), to allow her to finish her last year elsewhere and still get a Harvard Law degree (a privilege that male law students had previously been awarded.) Griswald refused, so RBG transferred to Columbia Law School where she graduated first in her class. Despite being extremely qualified, no law firm would hire her due to being female. By default, she became a Professor at Rutgers and Columbia Law Schools, teaching civil procedure. Being held back by sexism, RBG was very motivated to try to improve the considerable impediments to women's equality so her daughter's generation would be able to achieve their dreams. Marty comes to the rescue by paradoxically finding an obscure tax-law case, concerning Charles Moritz (Chris Mulkey), a single male care-taker of his ailing mother. Now working for the US Justice Department, Griswald decides to try the case rather than modify the tax code. Griswald and others feared change in the "natural order of things" (women being exclusively homemakers). The IRS code forbid Chris from claiming a tax-deduction for the care-taking because he was male, while deductions for female care-takers were allowed. Marty and RBG both argued the case and were victorious. This case then led to numerous other legal victories for equal (and especially women's) rights. This film is a slick, Hollywood production, but it's very well done. I'd see it, especially if you haven't seen the documentary. As Griswald feared, RBG and the numerous legal victories helping to diminish sexism did change society considerably – but life is change and trying to stop it is usually a bad idea, as well as an impossible strategy. However, tragically, we did lose "Ladies Day" at Major League Baseball games!
On The Basis of Sex: A “Feel”-Good Movie About Sexism
On The Basis of Sex: A “Feel”-Good Movie About Sexism
2019-01-14
David
80
8
The RBG Documentary Was Better!
AAW Performance By Felicity Jones!
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8
