lavatch 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.

gmclean-24636 The HBO film, "Confirmation" documents the grueling events of Judge Clarence Thomas' US Supreme Court confirmation hearings. For a young person that is not as familiar with the history behind his confirmation to the US Supreme Court this film was very shocking and very upsetting. Before watching this movie I did not know about all of the controversy that surrounded his nomination and I had never heard of Anita Hill. When President Bush nominated Thomas (Wendell Pierce) to replace Thurgood Marshall the nation was overall convinced that he would be confirmed by the Senate. However when Anita Hill (Kerry Washington) is asked to come forward to with her testimony of sexual harassment against Thomas the chaos begins. The director Rick Famuyiwa includes news clips that were live during the hearings which enhances the audiences' experience. The news clips make the viewers feel as if the hearings are taking place now. Also this film includes many behind the scenes looks into what occurred without the public's knowledge and it is very disturbing. I would recommend this film because of the outstanding acting and the important message.

Danny Blankenship As always I enjoy HBO original movies as they are well done and in deep and direct and informative with terrific cast simply the best around as most of the pictures involve real life happenings in the world of politics, people, famous and historical times, and with this film "Confirmation" HBO stands out and does it again. I'm sure everyone can remember in 1991 being glued to the TV to hear the hearings of one Clarence Thomas(well acted by Wendell Pierce) the first African American man to be nominated as a justice to the United States Supreme Court. As he was a conservative with his views and politics being to that of the right and many felt he was not qualified, still then president George Bush stood by his man. As the film will shed light on race and gender it was still more than just a black man being up for nomination it was the fact that sexual harassment charges were brought against him from a former office employee that being a now Oklahoma law professor a black female in Anita Hill(in a strong and attention grabbing performance from Kerry Washington). It was in front of the U.S. Senate that this legal and political drama played out as you can remember and the film shows it was a lot of he said she said with drama about witnesses not being called and hard questions from senators. With Thomas feeling this was a race case because he was the first black appointee to the USSC, and Hill feeling the cold shoulder being questioned all by political men as it was tough to believe a black female and her allegations. Thru it all this case would pave the wave for awareness about sexual harassment and open the door for more women to enter politics. "Confirmation" is one legal political drama to see and appreciate for the fact that it brought change and awareness.

grimalkin-2 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.