The primary virtue of Confirmation, HBO’s frustratingly tepid new Anita Hill biopic, is its ability to recreate political theater. As Hill (played here by Kerry Washington) makes her infamous opening statement and withstands a subsequent interrogation, director Rick Fumiyama captures the frenzy with devastating precision, maintaining strict visual accuracy with a pointed focus on the troubling identity politics that function as a literal backdrop. The scene runs, in fact, for almost a sixth of the film’s nearly two-hour running time. It’s the film’s centerpiece, its meat – its obvious dramatic highlight.
There is, however, precious little around this and other successful reconstructions. Confirmation opens on an elongated newsreel focused on the coverage of Clarence Thomas’ nomination to the Supreme Court, a bland and cheap device returned to again and again as Hill comes forward with allegations of sexual harassment against the pending justice. Actual broadcast footage is hardly new to the HBO docudrama – Recount humorously depicted local reporting on the “hanging chads,” while The Special Relationship swept through years of coverage that captured a global political shift – but rarely, if ever, have I seen it used so serviceably. Confirmation is certainly a by-the-book retelling, with exceedingly brief scenes and puzzling character focuses preventing any engagement beyond recollection and, given the content, outrage.
Would a documentary not suffice, in that case? Fumiyama operates on the notion that Hill’s despicable grilling by a line of white male senators and a collection of headline-hungry media outlets was a watershed moment for women, whether in the workplace, in public office or in private life – an instance of true recognition. It would make for a powerful starting point, but the theme is merely hammered-in as the closing credits roll. In that sense, the film’s architecture is without an ounce of flourish; it has no sense of momentum, emotional, narrative or otherwise. Confirmation accepts the interest-factor of Hill’s trial as sufficient, blending in a treacly score and an assortment of top-notch character actors to give the thing some spice. Unfortunately, the utter lack of dramatic structure and the utterly flat emotional landscape can’t quite be compensated for by swelling music and star power.
This is a shame, because the conflict couldn’t be more salient in a political climate themed by justice-related obstructionism and insidious sexism. Whereas FX’s The People v. O.J. Simpson recounted an event of similar representational complexity with vibrancy and urgency, Confirmation seems disinterested in its events’ more intricate, or perhaps even humanistic, implications. Anita Hill feels ripe for a cinematic treatment; her story, and the broader narrative surrounding it, provides a rich demonstration of how publicity, race and gender so specifically and problematically interact in American society. But Confirmation offers no insight into this web of identity politics. It instead presents an arbitrary conflict between two female senatorial aides; an unfairly deep foray – given that Hill and even Thomas are given the short shrift – into the moral conflict of the Senate Committee’s chair, Joe Biden (an uncanny Greg Kinnear); and a needlessly broad expression of the nastiness of politics.
The supporting cast is, to be clear, very strong. Dylan Baker, Bill Irwin and many others nail bit parts as Republican antagonists; Wendell Pierce, as Thomas, conveys plenty of righteous fury in what amounts to surprisingly limited time on-screen. As for the main attraction, it’s a testament to Washington – also a co-executive producer here – that her performance resonates as much as it does. In the film’s more recognizable moments, the actress is at her harrowing best – she captures Hill’s inflections, embodies her discomfort and radiates her bravery as senators hurl unfounded accusations and media outlets prematurely swarm. There’s a moment between Hill and her attorney, Charles Ogletree (Jeffrey Wright), in which she says of Thomas, “He is not the victim!” The way Washington plays it, visibly composed but audibly exasperated, is illuminating in a way Confirmation rarely is. It’s earthy and grounded and impassioned, not at all the dry point-by-point retelling that characterizes too much of the film around its primary star.
There’s not much to say about Confirmation technically, aside from its choppy editing, clunky dialogue and occasional sliver of beauty – credit where it’s due, cinematographer Rachel Morrison actually manages to put together a nice-looking film here, including some gorgeously provocative juxtapositions between the all-white Senate Committee and the black individuals opposite them. The film gets by on worthiness regardless, as a competent reenactment of a critical piece of American political history. Indeed, that’s both Fumiyama’s saving grace and his primary problem. He’s complacent with the material. By the time the confirmation hearing ends and Hill returns to work, with letters of support and thanks flooding her office, you can’t help but marvel at the missed opportunity. Here was a woman who meant something to a lot of people. If only Confirmation did a better job of showing us why.
Grade: C