RBG (Cohen, West) 2018

A wonderful portrait of a trailblazing figure, this film should be required viewing for all high schoolers learning about our federal judicial system.

This film looks at the rise of Ginsburg to the United States Supreme Court by exploring the different steps she took along the way. Filled with interviews from friends and family members all the way up to former President Bill Clinton (who nominated her to the high court in 1993), nearly everyone talks about her with glowing respect, even when they don't necessarily agree with her beliefs.

I truly appreciated the focus on the difficulties Ginsburg faced trying to break into the male dominated world of law in the middle of the last century. But the diminutive lawyer would not give up and ultimately landed herself on the Supreme Court, despite her quiet nature. This film looks at both the successes she has accumulated throughout her distinguished career, but doesn't completely gloss over a few missteps. The last third of the film highlights many of the high profile dissenting opinions she has written in the Supreme Court as she has shifted more to the left of the political spectrum than when she first joined. It also looks at public comments she made about then presidential nominee Donald Trump, for which she did apologize.

These less than perfect points, serve to humanize the character we see in the black robes in pictures. Combined with the images of her working out, planking, doing push-ups and lifting weights, we get to see a much fuller picture of the woman behind the robes.
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Definitely check out this film.

9 out of 10

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