Confirmation (2016)

This well-produced film from HBO offers a good recreation of the contentious and sensational congressional confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas in 1991. The acting was superb with the performances of Wendell Pierce as Thomas and Kerry Washington as Anita Hill. Still, the film dragged at the end and did not fully convey the emotional impact of the tense hearings.The strength of the film was that it sought to adopt a balanced and fair-minded approach to the portrayal of Thomas and Hill. With the hindsight of fifteen years, the HBO production had the opportunity to examine the case impartially. In this regard, the film was successful in not "taking sides." For the viewer who may not have lived through the televised hearings, the film allows everyone to come to terms with the controversy of who was telling the truth in the serious allegations of sexual harassment. With little doubt, it is clear that Thomas perjured himself in denying all of Hill's allegations and cleverly moving on the offense to accuse the Senate judiciary committee members of "a high-tech lynching." In the end, politics prevailed over ethics, Thomas was confirmed, and is still sitting on the Supreme Court bench in 2017. Hill concluded that she never received a fair hearing from the politically-driven committee presided over by Joe Biden. The film points to this case as a watershed moment when Anita Hill's voice empowered women to come out of the shadows in matters of sexual harassment. There followed greater freedom and opportunities for women in the workplace and even in Congress.Overall, the film was successful in walking a historical tightrope and allowing viewers to make up their own minds about essential themes of culture, race, and politics.

Outstanding study of the Clarence Thomas-Anita Hill controversy of 1991 with Greg Kinnear a standout as Sen. Joseph Biden, head of the senate committee investigations the allegations made by Prof. Hill. Kinnear actually sounded like Joe Biden and he was quick to profanity behind the scenes.The person portraying Prof. Hill, Kerry Washington, did not come across as a college professor until things really began to heat up.Definitely a fine film showing how politics entered into the fray. Too bad that Jennifer Hudson's character never was able to testify. It would have brought out more from the Oscar winner Hudson.The man who played Sen. Simpson from Wyoming gave a convincing supporting performance.Certainly the affects of the controversy played a major role in women gaining political clout as shown by the 1992 elections.

In what was to be the the most x-rated Senate hearing in history those gathered in hearings to confirm or deny Judge Clarence Thomas a seat on the US Supreme Court which were to be the most shocking even seen on daytime as well as on the local TV networks. The viewers were to hear stories of coke cans with pubic hair flouting in them as well as the erotic actions and adventures of porno super star Long Dong Silver that had the red faced TV commentators warn their TV viewers to have women and children leave the room in order not to be shocked and corrupted by what their reporting.Thomas' accuser Anita Hill never said that Thomas as much laid a hand on her or threatened to have her fired from her job as his assistant at the EEOC if she didn't go along with his wanting to take her out on a date; which she never did. But her testimony about his bragging about what a power-house stud as well as sex machine, with sexual equipment matching that of his hero Long Dong Silver, he is was enough to, excuse the pun, blacken his nomination for justice to the US Supreme Court that has followed him all these years-25-in TV skits and night club acts since he got confirmed for the job.As we see in the movie as well as in real life Anita Hill was forced to come forward to accuse, very reluctantly, Thomas of sexual harassment while working as well as not, some ten years after leaving his employment, working for Thomas was in fact used by a number of feminist fanatics out to destroy the man. It seemed to work for a while until an outraged Thomas himself went before the senate hearings committee and pleaded his case before the public showing himself as a rightist and God fearing man who's only being smeared because he was a conservative in his opinions on the rule of law, like abortion, which his many enemies in and out of congress hated him for.This "Tempest in a Teapot" event has since blown over with what's been happening in politics as well in the country in regard to real sexual harassment-against men as well as women- as well as going so far as rape and even murder by many of those who opposed Thomas, in and out of politics, who in what they've done make him look like an alter boy at best or crypto video porn connoisseur, which is no crime at all, at worse. Thomas for his part has kept his nose clean since his nomination that he's done nothing good or bad since he's got the post of Supreme Court justice. He's only offered up one bizarre opinion on the court the right to torture prisoners to gain confessions that was soundly rejected by his fellow members, both liberal and conservatives, of the Supreme Court. As for Anita Hill she like Thomas has tried to put the entire sleazy incident behind her and not be part of the now mostly discredited feminist revolution-where are they now in the massive rapes and abuse as well as murders of women by the "politically correct" illegally immigrants in and out of the USA- that tried to use her to its advantage.

The movie did a fine job of condensing the confirmation hearing of Clarence Thomas for the Supreme Court, and Anita Hill's accusations that Thomas had sexually harassed her on numerous occasions and was morally unfit to become a justice. Various issues are explored, including sexual harassment in the workplace, sexual harassment by an African American in the workplace, and sexual harassment by an African American male directed toward an African American female in the workplace. If there is a villain in the piece, it is neither Anita Hill nor Clarence Thomas (beautifully portrayed by Kerry Washington and Wendell Pierce respectively), but the Democratic chairman, Joe Biden (Greg Kinnear), of the Senate committee debating Thomas's qualifications. From start to finish Biden is presented as a wuss, easily swayed and manipulated by Republicans to present Thomas in the best possible light. Along the way, Biden also loses witnesses to affirm Clarence Thomas's alleged behavior toward Anita and other women. The movie confronts the cowardliness of liberal white men (all the Democrats on the committee) dealing with sexual harassment charges that concern a black man, with the possible exception of the late-blooming Edward Kennedy who finally comes to Anita Hill's defense. For the most part, Republicans have a field day in attempting to destroy Anita Hill's reputation with bogus charges while Democrats remain mute. Greg Kinnear is completely credible as Biden as is Treat Williams as Ted Kennedy. The movie stresses how this confirmation hearing resulted in the country's growing sensitivity to sexual harassment. But it also shows how Joe Biden's ineptness results not only in Clarence Thomas's confirmation, but a generation of conservative opinions from the Supreme Court.