MOVIE: Anita

Anita: an excellent documentary that focuses on what Anita Hill has done with her life since the Clarence Thomas hearing.  The first half of this 85 minute film places Hill’s testimony in the context of being heard by an all-male, White judicial panel addressing a subject that most of them probably never spent any time thinking about:  sexual harassment.  If the same testimony was given today, I’m quite sure the final confirmation vote, if it even got to that point, would be different.  As it was, the vote was the narrowest favorable confirmation ever for a Supreme Court justice, 52 to 48.  I had forgotten just how close the vote was.  The film clips used by the director, Frieda Lee Mock, included a scene of female members of the House of Representatives, including Patsy Mink, walking up the Capitol steps with the intention of addressing the senators on the issue of sexual harassment.  They were not given the opportunity to testify.  The movie notes that there were other women prepared to give testimony consistent with Hill’s but the committee chose not to call them.  The 1991 Senate clips are not lengthy.  There are segments of interviews with individuals in whom Hill had confided in the previous 7 years regarding the exact events in which Senator Spector tried so hard to create disbelief.  The film also shows the brilliance of having Thomas use the phrase “high tech lynching” in his defense and ignore the substance of Hill’s testimony.  The lack of either a female or a non-White on the judicial panel had historic impact.  But this film is not just a retelling of an historic event.  The movie explores Hill’s positive life and actions during the 20+ years since the hearing.  She has been active with community groups addressing the all too present issue of sexual harassment.  Hill left her tenured position at the University of Oklahoma law school  for a professorship at Brandeis University.  Frieda Mock previously won a documentary Oscar and this film could result in a further nomination.  The movie immediately gets your attention as it opens with a phone message recording Hill received in 2010 from a person identifying herself as Ginni Thomas, Clarence’s wife, asking if Anita was finally ready to apologize for her testimony.  The recording is real but no one knows if the speaker was actually Ginni Thomas and, if so, why it was made on a Saturday morning to Hill’s office number.  The film leaves no doubt that Hill has no reason to apologize and also how one does not let a single event control one’s life.