By Nick Long —
Fans of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg can now catch her life story on the big screen.
First, she was in “RBG,” a documentary about the Supreme Court Justice directed by Julie Cohen and Betsy West.
This past month, Ginsburg found her legal escapades back on the big screen in “On the Basis of Sex.”
“RBG” gives us a glimpse of how Ginsburg created some of her famous dissents and how she has stuck to her strict workout routine. “On the Basis of Sex” shows us a different look into Ginsburg’s life.
“On the Basis of Sex” is a legal drama directed by Mimi Leder that shows Ginsburg’s (Felicity Jones) legal and family life leading up to the 1972 case, Mortiz v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue.
The film follows Ginsburg’s life as she attends Harvard Law School and is one of only nine women admitted in her class, starts a new life with her husband Marty Ginsburg (Armie Hammer) and struggles to be an aspiring lawyer in a world that is saturated with law firms that are afraid to hire women.
We see through Hammer’s performance that Marty was a great example of how men can support their wives and families while also pursuing their own careers.
The film shows Marty helping in the kitchen and with the children, but also shows him escalating through the legal world too.
It shows that the Ginsburgs were ahead of their time by not subjecting themselves to gender roles within the household.
Not only that, but she also was going to her husband’s classes on top of her own while he was diagnosed with testicular cancer.
Jones has a spunk that really shows how driven Ginsburg was in her legal efforts.
The film can become heavy at times involving lots of dialogue about legal jargon, but it shows that Ginsburg got the idea of gender equality into the court on a small tax-deduction for the caregiver’s expense.
Mortiz v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue was in no way Ginsburg’s most well-known case, but it was one that combined Ginsburg’s knowledge of gender inequality with Marty’s tax-law knowledge.
It was a delight to get to see them both work together on the same case.
I don’t think this film compares as well to its counterpart “RBG,” but I think it still gives a good perspective on the hardships Ginsburg faced in the legal world. (Nick’s Rating: 6.5/10)
Photo Credit / newsweek.com
