U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas in Created Equal: Clarence Thomas in His Own Words/Manifold Productions
Comments by the filmmaker, producer, and director after the screening of his new film about Clarence Thomas were almost as interesting as the film itself.
An adoring, practically fawning crowd welcomed the first public showing of Created Equal: Clarence Thomas in His Own Words last week at the Cato Institute. At the show's end, filmmaker Michael Pack and Cato's Roger Pilon, who served as moderator, answered questions from the audience until there were no more.
Most of the questioners preceded their remarks with "brilliant!" and "excellent!"
In the film, set for airing by PBS next May, Clarence Thomas sits and faces the camera and talks about his life, beginning with his early childhood. He and his wife, Ginny, sat for 30 hours of interviewing, Mr. Pack said, and it was difficult to reduce that length to two hours, which left no room in the film for contributions and viewpoints from others.
Mr. Pack hopes law schools and other colleges will pick it up.
Archival videos and photographs made excellent visuals, supplemented with the few Thomas family pictures available.
Several times Mr. Pack said that Justice Thomas's life is a classic American story, a much harder upbringing he had than, say, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (whose RBG has earned nearly $14.5 million since its release in 2018. Mr. Pack sighed).
In Pin Point, Georgia, close to Savannah, Clarence Thomas's father abandoned his family when the future justice was a toddler. His mother struggled to earn a living wage and take care of her children who roamed the streets when the boys were six and seven years old.
In desperation, she took Clarence and his younger brother to her parents to live, and the two boys delighted to find indoor plumbing and food on the table every night at their grandparents' home. (Nothing was said about what happened to Mr. Thomas's mother or his sister.)
His grandfather was a disciplinarian who instilled hard work in his grandsons, respect for others, and a keen sense of the value of education. Mr. Thomas says he "really regretted," not visiting his grandfather before he died to tell him "how much I loved and respected him."
The future justice attended Catholic high school and at age 16, considered becoming a priest. That possibility led him to seminary school until a racial epithet after the death of Martin Luther King Jr. caused Mr. Thomas to leave. That was about the time a door opened at the College of the Holy Cross and from there, it was on to Yale law school.
Justice Thomas describes his career and work for Sen. John Danforth (R-MO). After climbing the legal ladder, Mr. Thomas was nominated to the U.S.Supreme Court by President George H.W. Bush in 1991.
Presiding over the Thomas Senate confirmation hearing was Sen. Joe Biden, who, of course, is included at one of his worst moments, to the delight of the laughing audience.
Mr. Thomas says he had no idea what Sen. Biden was talking about in the hearing when the senator talked about "natural laws," but Mr. Biden announced to everyone present that he and Mr. Thomas knew what he was talking about. (You have to see it.)
The clash with the testimony of Anita Hill consumed more in the film than expected. (At least four in the audience were not Thomas fans, including me who believed and still believes Anita Hill.)
When Mr. Thomas learned his nomination had been approved, his response was a sarcastic "whoop-dee-doo."
Mr. Pack said unequivocally that the justice had not seen the film but Mr. Thomas's wife, Ginny (quoted extensively in it), had.
More than once Mr. Pack said the justice wanted to get his words out. Clearly, Mr. Thomas still carries a chip on his shoulder which he probably has borne throughout life.
The documentary is an unbalanced portrayal but an autobiography, a hagiography someone suggested today, nonetheless. Mr. Thomas, 71, is now the most senior associate justice on the Supreme Court.
Mr. Pack's company, Manifold Productions, produced the film, with the help of his wife, Gina, a Manifold vice-president, who was also present.
She urged her husband to shorten Words which is good advice! With redundant scenes of an unmanned boat gliding through Georgian marshes, I say, "cut!"
The banjo and piano made excellent accompaniment in the film as did the guest reception which preceded the showing.
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