John Pollak

RBG

RBG is a documentary film directed and produced by Betsy West and Julie Cohenwhich recently premiered at the Sundance film Festival . RBG is Ruth Bader Ginsburg ( nee Ruth Joan Bader). She is a member of the US Supreme Court. At times almost painfully shy and reserved she is 83 years of age she has become an icon to liberal America and its youth.
How did this come about?
The film explores her path from a working class family in Broklyn to Supreme Court Justice. But it is more than that for her journey parallels the the enormous social and legal victories women were able to achieve from the 1970s.  Central to that change was RBG. Six times she appeared before the Supreme Court to argue for womens rights..the right to equal pay, the right to own their bodies, for equality before the law. And five times she won. She was not only an advocate for women.

In Weinberger v Wiesenfeld she was for Weinberger, a male home maker denied his deceased wife’s social security pension on the basis that it was only awarded to mothers.
The film is an insight into this almost ancient frail woman of great intelectual strength and discipline who even now attends the gym regularly to spend an hour with her personal trainer, at the end of which she professes “…Im ready for another hour”. A wonderful wordsmith she once criticised the majority decision of her judicial brethren saying it was “the equivalent of throwing away an umbrella in a rainstorm because you are not getting wet.”
Also chronicled is the story of her marriage to Martin D Ginsburg another lawyer without whose wise and unwavering support she would never have achieved  High Office.
Today she is in great demand as a speaker. Books have been written about her “…Notorious R B G:The Life and Times Of Ruth Bader Ginsburg” .
After she graduated equal first in class from Columbia University Law School there was not a law firm in New York who would hire her. What she did with her life thereafter is a compelling story , insightfully told by the filmmakers with charm wit and insight.
See it.
RBG will open in cinemas on Thursday 26th July 2018.

Published by John Pollak

John Pollak did Arts and Law at Sydney uni. He practised Law for a short while and went into business. He made too much money for his own good and today is not so much retired as having little to do. He plays tennis and carries the bags for his wife when she goes overseas. When prompted and badgered he does the occasional review. He goes to Ethiopia every now and then and where, with Professor McGuigan of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, he is bringing the Sodis Program for safer water to the Tigray region. When seen in public he is often hunched over a cup of coffee and a foccacio whilst immersed in a diabolical suduko. Or he is driving his wife to bridge.