RBG (2018)

Directed by: Julie Cohen, Betsy West | 101 minutes | documentary, biography | Starring: Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Ann Kittner, Harryette Helsel, Nina Totenberg, Martin D. Ginsburg, Arthur R. Miller, John Howard Lawson, Clara Spera, Brenda Feigen, James Steven Ginsburg, Jane C. Ginsburg, Lisa Beattie Frelinghuysen, Mary Hartnett , Wendy Williams, Gloria Steinem, Aryeh Neier, Sharron Frontiero, Kathleen Peratis, Bill Clinton, Orrin Hatch, Antonin Scalia

Ruth Bader Ginsburg was already in her eighties when she suddenly became an icon of popular culture in 2013. Her image appeared on coffee mugs and T-shirts, and people had tattoos featuring her image. She also kept things busy on the internet and actress Kate McKinnon crawled into her skin in the popular satirical show ‘Saturday Night Live’ (SNL). Ginsburg had stolen the hearts of the young generation of (highly educated) Americans in particular with her often contradictory opinions in the US Supreme Court, where she has been a judge since 1993. She does not shy away from contradicting the other judges and in doing so makes a different voice: she stands up for groups in society that feel too little heard and seen: women, minorities and others who oppose the establishment of the old , white men approach. And so, thanks to social media, a tiny eighty-something became ‘The Notorious RBG’ and not only did a parody in SNL and a biography written by a law student and a journalist appear, but also a feature film (‘On the Basis of Sex’, 2018 ) and a documentary about the life of Ruth Bader Ginsburg entitled ‘RBG’ (2018).

Filmmakers Betsy West and Julie Cohen kick off their documentary with a series of names given to her by Ginsburg’s opponents: witch, monster, evil and even a zombie. You immediately get an idea of ​​the prejudices and short-sightedness she has had to fight during her working life, which has now spanned about sixty years. The life course of Ruth Bader Ginsburg is discussed on the basis of historical and current footage, interviews with those involved and a number of career-defining lawsuits. As a young Jewish girl in Brooklyn, she was already taught to make sure she wasn’t dependent on a man, but could hold up her own pants herself. Tragically, her mother died the day before Ruth received her high school diploma. That grief only strengthened her even more to do her very best at university, where she went to study law. At Harvard, she was one of only nine women to five hundred male students, but she excelled and was not fooled by men who openly asked her what she was doing there. Nota bene, the dean of the prestigious university invited all nine women to his home for dinner, then asked why they were at Harvard, taking the place that could otherwise have been for a man.

Ruth continued to get good grades undisturbed even after giving birth to daughter Jane in 1955. A year earlier she was married to childhood sweetheart Marty, according to Ruth herself the first man to appreciate her for her intelligence. The indestructible love between the two runs like a red thread through the documentary and the amiable Marty provides a bit of warmth in an otherwise quite sober and business-like film. Although they are polar opposites – she is serious, introverted and cerebral, while he was exuberant, charming and a sensitive person – love is effusive. She was always working, while he scaled back his ambitions to be there for the kids. Daughter Jane reveals that she kept a log of all the times her mother smiled. If it wasn’t already clear: Ruth takes her job very seriously. The most beautiful smile she shows is during her nomination by Bill Clinton as Supreme Court justice, when she talks to the audience about the respect Marty has for her career; her husband, glowing with pride, you see sitting behind her.

It’s moments like this that bring the film to life. Not that Ruth’s achievements, first as a lawyer, then as a judge, and then again as chief judge are not awe-inspiring. This lady deserves a statue just for daring to throw in the bat and address issues of gender inequality in a world that for several hundred years was a genuine male bastion. Despite her small stature, she has accomplished great deeds. The most notable successes are highlighted: for example, the case in the mid-1970s in which she defended a widower, whose wife had died in childbirth, because he was not receiving benefits. This Stephen Wiesenfeld had to stop working to take care of his son, but was forced in court to enforce his right to a financial contribution. The law simply did not take into account a situation like this. Ginsburg’s approach was and is to address male jurors and judges as sensible people who are not so much malicious as rather ignorant and who can, as it were, educate them by making them look at the case from a different perspective.

The older she gets, the less serious. We see this in today’s images, when she is allowed to take on a part in an opera (recitation, no singing), looks at McKinnon’s parody for the first time and thanks to a personal trainer lets herself be tormented in the gym (impressive for a very elderly!), dressed in a sweater with the text ‘Superdiva’ on it. But Ruth Bader Ginsburg never shows the back of her tongue. We don’t know who is hiding behind those big glasses. Only in the handful of moments when Marty lights up the screen with his warm personality do we get the much desired dose of emotion. But Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s legacy in American justice is certainly honored in ‘RBG’.