Confirmation deserves second look

By Katherine Monk

Anita Hill. Clarence Thomas. Coke can. Pubic hair. It’s about all anyone can really remember from the 1991 scandal that accompanied George H. W. Bush’s first Supreme Court nomination — which is why it’s worth taking a look at Confirmation.

The HBO movie debuted in April last year, while Barack Obama was still the President of the United States and racism was still publicly frowned upon. Antonin Scalia passed away the month before, potentially opening the door to a new, progressive voice on the bench.

That was then. This is now. So as Judge Neil Gorsuch’s confirmation hearings continue to cleave Congress, it’s worth taking another look at the HBO movie that dissects the unfortunate events from a quarter century ago.

Clarence Thomas was George H. W. Bush’s choice to fill the gap left by Thurgood Marshall’s resignation, and many assumed it was more about optics than merit.

Thomas did not have a wealth of experience and was a relative newcomer to the bench, having served on the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission before being appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals.

Nonetheless, Bush pushed his nomination in the first months of his presidency, only to face one of the ugliest confirmation hearings since Congress refused to endorse Ronald Reagan’s nomination of Robert Bork, a Nixon loyalist who asserted he had been guaranteed a seat on the bench for his role in the so-called “Saturday Night Massacre.”

(On October 20, 1973, Nixon demanded the special prosecutors in the Watergate case be fired and Bork complied with the request that was later deemed illegal.)

Confirmation alludes to the Bork debacle in its opening frames, because if nothing else, this HBO movie is eager to reacquaint us with recent history.

It’s easy to forget, but back in 1991, sexual harassment policies were few and far between. Women had to deal with sexist remarks, unwanted advances and misogyny in the workplace as an inherent and expected part of the office environment.

It’s easy to forget, but back in 1991, sexual harassment policies were few and far between. Women had to deal with sexist remarks, unwanted advances and misogyny in the workplace as an inherent and expected part of the office environment.

It was unpleasant, but few complained. Then Anita Hill happened. Shortly after Clarence Thomas was nominated for the Supreme Court, a call went out to former colleagues, students, underlings and assistants to see if he was a suitable choice. Ricki Seidman was a young woman working for Senator Ted Kennedy when she got Anita Hill on the line, and canvassed her thoughts about her former boss.

Hill’s response would eventually make history. Hill alleged Thomas sexually harassed her on a regular basis by talking about pornography, asking her out on social occasions and waxing on about Long Dong Silver’s big screen prowess.

The whole story would have remained little more than an FBI footnote. No one wanted to deal with it, including Joe Biden, chair of the hearings. But it leaked. The committee had no choice. They would have to hear Anita Hill, and the country would have to hear about pubic hairs on coke cans.

Before long, it devolved into a game of he-said-she-said with sympathy falling neatly down gender lines. It was a different era, and Confirmation does a fantastic job pulling back the hands of time to show us a period — not so long ago — when institutional sexism was a palpable reality.

Director Rick Famuyiwa (Dope) goes deeper than mere set design and polyester blends. He captures the general sensibilities through character development. Thanks to screenwriter Susannah Grant (Eric Brockovich), Joe Biden becomes the fragmenting touchstone: A man trying to absorb a whole new reality without looking sexist, or like a total jackass. He ends up looking a lot more like the latter as he tries to back out of every corner with an avuncular grin.

In the hands of Greg Kinnear, the performance turns into a squirming embodiment of changing American values. Kinnear exploits his ability to capture Biden’s folksy, old-boy intonation — as well as a certain stiffness.

Thanks to screenwriter Susannah Grant (Eric Brockovich), Joe Biden becomes the fragmenting touchstone: A man trying to absorb a whole new reality without looking sexist, or like a total jackass. He ends up looking a lot more like the latter as he tries to back out of every corner with an avuncular grin.

Biden’s character plays a pivotal role in the denouement without being a hero or a villain. He feels like the voice of “government” — cautious, disembodied, cold. He’s hopefully non-committal until the Thomas matter pokes a hole in his shroud of ambiguity.

Anita Hill, played by Kerry Washington with humble grace, is the perfect foil. Human without being emotionally overdrawn, Washington ensures we get a fresh perspective on Hill’s story by showing us how it was elicited and processed by the D.C. spin machine.

Hill had to confront the elephant (and the jackass) in the bi-partisan room: The old-boys’ network that created, nurtured and populates the halls of power.

She had to answer the unanswerable questions: ‘If Thomas was such a bad man… why did you continue to work for him? Why didn’t you come forward earlier?’

Hill answers honestly: Fear.

Law-makers didn’t quite get it right away, but Hill’s testimony exposed the hidden obstacles that inhabit a woman’s world view. Confirmation maintains it was Hill’s case that spurred a record number of women to run for office, and in turn, enact sexual harassment legislation.

If Hill is the hero of the piece, Thomas is the pathos. Played by The Wire’s Wendell Pierce, Thomas emerges as a haunted man, playing a part he’s been assigned without any real ambition.

It’s a heavy piece, and too many characters — including Ricki Seidman (played by Meryl Streep’s daughter Grace Gummer) — are used as explanatory tools. Confirmation often gets lost in the details without making them feel meaningful, sometimes forcing the characters to overplay scenes just to make a dramatic point.

It’s frustrating at times, but it’s a frustrating topic. There’s still a whispered snigger surrounding sexual harassment, and women continue to strangle their own outrage just to get along. Coupled with the current occupant of the Oval Office, and his nomination for Supreme Court Justice, Confirmation isn’t just an important lesson in history, it’s a useful lens on the purposeful blurring of government power.

@katherinemonk

THE EX-PRESS, March 28, 2017

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