First Hit: Excellent film about a woman who lives within her strength and defined and changed U.S. law.
When I learn something in a documentary that has me still thinking about it days later, gratitude to the filmmakers is in order. To Julie Cohen and Betsy West, I bow to you for bringing RBG to light.
"The Notorious RBG", as Ruth Bader Ginsberg is sometimes called in social media is a small frail looking quiet woman who has done more for women’s equal rights in this country than almost anyone else.
She ranks up there with Susan B. Anthony, yet when you type in “Women’s rights leaders” in Google search her name doesn’t come up. The reason, she’s the person behind the curtain doing her great work quietly.
The film takes you on a journey of Ginsberg’s life. The audience learns a bit about her upbringing, her mother dying when she was only 14, how she was as a mother by the interviews with he son and daughter, and her first and only love Martin who was a law student as well.
You see how different she was from Martin who was gregarious, funny and extremely supportive of Ruth’s life and love of the law.
Ruth became a Law Professor at Rutgers School of Law. Then she became part of the ACLU by co-founding the Women’s Rights Project.
In this role, Ginsberg argued six gender discrimination cases in the U.S. Supreme Court winning five of them. It was here that her voice became the law voice for the women’s equal rights movement.
The film covers most of these cases and the narration and interviews with congressmen, her family, and others (including Gloria Steinem) share just how clear and strong her voice was for the equal rights of women. The film also covers her nomination to become a Supreme Court Justice and just how dedicated she is to the law, by her work ethic, often working through the night, to write the court’s majority or dissenting opinions.
Cohen and West did a sparkling and magnificent job of teaching me about one of the most important judges to ever sit on the U.S. Supreme Court.
Overall: This film is a must for every law student and politician.