Justice, an all-new documentary that takes a more detailed look into the sexual assault allegations leveraged against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, surprised viewers as a last-minute addition to the 2023 Sundance Film Festival lineup.
The film, directed by Doug Liman (Mr. and Mrs. Smith, The Bourne Identity), was produced in secret for more than a year before debuting at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City’s Park Avenue Theater on Friday. Liman was inspired to direct the film after watching Christine Blasey Ford, who lodged sexual assault allegations against Justice Kavanaugh while testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2018. According to Blasey Ford, the alleged assault took place when she and Kavanaugh were in high school together in the ’80s.
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
Following Blasey Ford’s testimony, an additional three women came forward to lodge similar accusations against Kavanaugh, all of which the Justice has denied. Following the allegations, an FBI investigation was held, eventually finding “no corroboration of the allegations.” As a result, Kavanaugh was later confirmed to have a lifetime term on the Supreme Court–the highest court in the nation.
Justice Director Doug Liman Discusses His Inspiration After Sundance Screening
Sundance Film Festival
In a Q&A session (via Variety) following Friday night’s Sundance screening of Justice, Liman spoke on the outrage he felt watching Blasey Ford’s Senate Judiciary Committee testimony, saying that he knew “something very wrong was happening.”
The director went on to explain that he believes “the FBI investigation into Brett Kavanaugh fell woefully short.”
While Blasey Ford does appear in Justice, she does so mainly through a series of clips of TV coverage of her hearing. Pulling quotes from interviews with journalists and psychologists, most of the documentary centers on Deborah Ramirez, a former classmate of Justice Kavanaugh’s from Yale University.
“The film examines our judicial process and the institutions behind it, highlighting bureaucratic missteps and political powergrabs that continue to have an outsized impact on our nation today.”
In the documentary, Ramirez claims that Kavanaugh exposed himself to her and forced himself onto her while attending a dorm party in the early 1980s. In addition, both Blasey Ford and Ramirez recall Kavanaugh’s laughter as a prominent piece of their encounters with the Justice.
Liman went on to praise Ford, Ramirez, and others who chose to use Justice to speak out against Kavanaugh.
“This was the kind of movie where people are terrified,” he said. “I mean, the fact is the people that chose to participate in the movie are heroes.”
However, Justice veers away from making any explosive revelations regarding Kavanaugh’s 2018 appointment to the Supreme Court. One of the documentary’s most daring reveals suggests that the FBI’s investigation of the allegations against Kavanaugh was less than thorough, arguing that the FBI failed to reach out to the 4,500 individuals who sent in tips pertaining to the claims leveraged against Kavanaugh.
