On the Basis of Sex (2018), directed by Mimi Leder

This would have been a difficult story to bring to life because so much of it depends on dry legal arguments. The filmmakers over compensate for this by overemphasising the emotional aspects of the Ginsberg story. Felicity Jones is very good in the title role of Ruth Bader Ginsberg. Armie Hammer is impossibly handsome as her husband Marty, which adds to his rather too good to be true persona. To do justice to Bader Ginsburg’s story would really need a mini series, rather than a film, because there is just too much to cram into two hours. The film focuses on two main time periods – the late 1950s when she is at law school and the early 1970s when she breaks out of academia and starts her fight for gender equality under the law. It is an important story, worth telling, especially as Ginsberg’s time on the Supreme Court must be drawing to a close. Her remarkable achievements should be celebrated and, more importantly, preserved as conservative forces seek to erode them. This movie does a so-so job of this, but is at least a good starting point to finding out about her.