‘On the Basis of Sex’ tells the story of Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Posted on January 18, 2019

BY MARK VIOLA

In a country in which many citizens can’t name a single U.S. Supreme Court justice, Ruth Bader Ginsburg has become somewhat of a celebrity, especially after a year which featured a best-selling autobiography, a well-received documentary and a feature film about a pivotal point in her life and U.S. law.

It is this third item that we’re here to address today. “On the Basis of Sex” stars Felicity Jones (“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story”) as Ginsburg, beginning with her time at Harvard and continuing through her efforts to challenge the law of the land at the time, which allowed discrimination on the basis of sex.

In our time of heightened political partisanship and the ever-growing cult of personality in our politics — and with it the need for heroes and villains — Ginsburg has found herself championed as both, depending on which side of the aisle you fancy.

Fortunately, “On the Basis of Sex” focuses instead on the past, and does so with a bevy of strong performances and a strong production led by director Mimi Leder (“Deep Impact”). Despite the fact that Leder has worked almost exclusively in television over the past 18 years, the film never feels like a made-for-television production, something that plagued another recent Supreme Court biography — 2017’s “Marshall” about Thurgood Marshall. That film dealt with racism within the law as this one does with sexism. While I felt “Marshall” didn’t do its subject justice, this one does quite well.

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