And, finally, watched the documentary RBG – about Ruth Bader Ginsberg – which was made by CNN Films and was able to catch it on CNN itself (also available on iTunes). I checked this out after watching – and being a little dissatisfied with the details – of the biopic about Ginsberg “On the Basis of Sex”.
RBG is a more complete story of the woman. It covers everything you’d expect a documentary about a person with a full life would. So we get more info about her early life, her relationships, and, hey, about her nomination to the supreme court and the cases she covered there. Interestingly, it did not cover the case that was in the biopic but did cover a very similar case that was argued before the Supreme Court.
But that doesn’t make this a better film than On the Basis of Sex, as it turns out. I found this documentary surprisingly bland. It wasn’t like I wasn’t learning anything… it’s that the presentation as a documentary was not compelling. Documentaries needn’t be whizz-bang exciting, but they shouldn’t also feel like you’re stuck in 8th grade, lights out, watching a boring educational video either. This wasn’t that bad… it was watchable and educational, but I found myself distracted far too often.
Also, there’s the little problem that the movie adores RBG a bit too much. And, indeed, there’s a lot to laud the woman for. But the tone of the doc was such that if there was ever anything negative in the life of RBG, this film was not going to tell me about it. It’s a similar problem that I had with the movie Vice (the biopic of Dick Chaney)… that movie hated its subject so it wasn’t going to cover anything good he might have done. RBG, on the other hand, wasn’t about to give me any negatives. And, hey, maybe there are no negatives… but how would I know based on this flick?
So it kind of fails as an interesting, compelling film but also, and more importantly, as an objective look at the woman. I’m not saying it’s a bad film or documentary though… it still presents a lot of history that I didn’t know (even after seeing the biopic). And she is someone who made history so she’s a valid topic for a documentary. I just wanted a more compelling – and possibly a more honest – presentation.
Score: 75