Kerry Washington (Frank Masi/HBO)
A dutiful but underwhelming biopic premiering on HBO this weekend details the contentious hearings for Supreme Court justice nominee Clarence Thomas in 1991. Confirmation focuses on University of Oklahoma law professor Anita Hill, who alleged that Thomas, her former employer, sexually harassed her.
The TV movie is likely to be compared to FX’s American Crime Story: The People v. O.J. Simpson, the most recent program to dramatize nationally publicized court proceedings from two decades ago. Both reenact events from the ’90s that still resonate today, and both feature a strong ensemble cast whose performances transcend mere imitation.
While O.J. brought a lurid piece of pop culture history to vivid life, Confirmation suffers by comparison, as it simply ticks off the major points of the hearings and gestures at their contemporary impact. Its blunt, slightly disappointing approach gets the facts across, but with less emotional impact.
The movie opens with a brief montage of historical news footage detailing the context for President George H.W. Bush’s 1991 announcement of Clarence Thomas (Wendell Pierce, Bunk from The Wire) as his nominee to succeed retired Justice Thurgood Marshall. Anita Hill (Kerry Washington) sees the news on TV and almost immediately faces a Senate staffer who discovered that, years ago, Hill worked with Thomas. Reluctantly, Hill recalls the consistently crass treatment that made her feel threatened and unsafe. To the chagrin of many within the Senate Judiciary Committee, Hill travels to D.C. and stalls the nomination process with her accusations, which many in the government rejected as the bitter ravings of an attention-hungry liar.
The unglamourous depiction of operations in the legislative branch shows what Hill was up against: a group failing to balance personal interests with those of their constituents. Director Rick Famuyiwa (Dope) capably translates the story’s historical stakes, lending a glossy sheen and charged atmosphere to the re-creation of the trial. Screenwriter Susannah Grant (Erin Brokovich) fleshes out the senators on the committee just enough to make their insistent dismissals of Hill’s testimony as loathsome as possible.
Unfortunately, the movie falls victim to many of its genre’s most tired conventions. The overreliance on archival news and interview footage becomes annoying almost instantly and doesn’t let up even in the most tense portions of the trial. The decision to focus the narrative entirely on the weeks immediately following the nomination robs the story of the emotional power that might have come from exploring Hill and Thomas’ lives leading up to their public clash. And outside of the main cast, the supporting characters don’t live up to the sterling ensemble of actors portraying them: Eric Stonestreet, Treat Williams, Jennifer Hudson, Jeffrey Wright, Alison Wright, and Dylan Baker have all been far better served elsewhere.
But the key cast members are impressive despite occasionally humdrum material. Kerry Washington is an inspired choice for Hill — her confident work as Olivia Pope on Scandal lends her a built-in gravitas, and her performance conveys Hill’s frustrations and concerns without bombast. Wendell Pierce, despite looking very little like the Clarence Thomas of 25 years ago, portrays Thomas as both inscrutable and tempestuous. Even Greg Kinnear’s portrayal of Joe Biden, which some have likened to an SNL impression, comes across more fully formed than the average fictionalized interpretation of a major public figure.
Confirmation ends on a note that suggests the hearings, despite their failure to hold Thomas accountable for his alleged conduct, paved the way for more female representation in Congress and more public awareness of sexual harassment and abuse. It’s hard not to come away feeling more cynical about the motivations of elected officials and the inherent disadvantages women face when challenging male power structures. A more ambitious version of this movie would have embraced those thornier questions. Confirmation is content to skim the surface, offering a faithful retelling that leaves its messier potential on the table.
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Confirmation
Directed by Rick Famuyiwa
Written by Susannah Grant
With Kerry Washington, Zoe Lister-Jones, Erika Christensen
Premieres Saturday, April 16 at 8 p.m. on HBO
