Like those previous projects, this engrossing documentary is all about listening to survivors of abuse share their experiences in detail (which were corroborated by Herdy and her team) and letting their courage speak for itself. We saw this happen in real-time with Dr. Christine Blasey Ford back in 2018, when she spoke in front of millions of Americans and a special committee about being sexually assaulted by Kavanaugh at a party when they were in high school. Dr. Ford gave so much of herself at that time, and she appears only very briefly at the beginning of the cut that was screened last night. Her face is turned away from the camera. She asks Liman why he’s doing this project, and he responds with something anyone who felt for her during those testimonies might say: We all watched her bravery in speaking so publicly about her trauma. Then we saw her story be silenced. “Justice” picks up where her courage left off, and it works across many goals of filling in more of the past and revealing that there is much more to the bigger picture.
One of the worst things that happened during this whole ordeal is that we more or less forgot about it—crushed by the cynicism of no justice, certainly—but Liman’s film takes us back to that time. In its opening act, we get a behind-the-scenes look at Dr. Ford deciding to speak up. When you see these events in such acute, chronological fashion, the bleak ridiculousness becomes even more apparent: Dr. Ford spoke with immense clarity while sacrificing her public life to share what she can’t forget.
“Justice” also shines a giant spotlight on the less-published story of Debby Ramirez, who shares in gutting testimonials her abuse allegations against Kavanaugh and his friends at a party at Yale. And in doing so, we get a deeper look at the close-knit friend group from the ‘80s who were texting each other during the 2018 news cycle. Some tried to protect their friend Brett, or themselves, while everyone retraced what happened either in their high school days or at Yale while hanging out with Kavanaugh. Mutual friends of both Kavanaugh and Dr. Ford talk on camera and illustrate how a whole web of people who remember the scrutinized era well, including the behavior Kavanaugh has denied.