Confirmation

Kerry Washington stars as Anita Hill and Wendell Pierce is Clarence Thomas in this made-for-HBO film that dramatizes events surrounding the 1991 congressional hearings over the confirmation of Thomas to the Supreme Court after accusations of sexual harassment were raised during the vetting process. Scripted by Susannah Grant (Oscar-nominated screenwriter of Erin Brockovich), and directed by Rick Famuyiwa, Confirmation portrays law professor Hill as a reluctant witness who tells her story only after being contacted by a congressional aide (Grace Gummer) working for Senator Ted Kennedy (Treat Williams). While largely told from Hill's perspective, the film presents Thomas as a man who genuinely feels betrayed and outraged over what he calls a "high-tech lynching for uppity blacks." Confirmation never presumes to know "what really happened," but it is clearly sympathetic to Hill: every attack on her character or motivations launched by Thomas's supporters serves to underscore why she never came forth earlier. Costarring Greg Kinnear as then-Senator Joseph Biden, the committee chairman, this is a solid examination of an incident that had a huge impact on the issue of workplace sexual harassment. Extras include behind-the-scenes featurettes. Recommended. (S. Axmaker)