Tag: Betsy West

‘Julia’: An enjoyable, breezy, and well-prepared doc

Jeff Mitchell

“Julia” (2021) – “Don’t be afraid of failure.” – Julia Child Good advice! Julia Child – television’s premiere cooking personality, who paved the way for hundreds (or is it thousands or tens of thousands?) of local, national, and worldwide on-air chefs – took her advice.  Naturally, she was speaking about culinary gymnastics, but directors Julie Cohen and Betsy West – the dynamic documentary-duo behind “RBG” (2018) and “My Name is Pauli Murray” (2021) – clearly reveal that Ms. Child applied those same principles outside the kitchen as well.  Cohen and…

‘My Name is Pauli Murray’: Please meet this American pioneer

Jeff Mitchell

“My Name is Pauli Murray” – “I want to see America be what she says she is in the Declaration of Independence and Constitution.  America, be what you proclaim to be!” – Pauli Murray During the opening few minutes of the documentary “My Name is Paul Murray”, Karen Rouse Ross – who is Pauli Murray’s grand-niece and the executrix of her estate – explains, “Pauli did not share a lot about her life with me.  I knew she was a priest.  I knew she had been a lawyer, but she…

‘RBG’ is a super documentary about a modern-day superhero

Jeff Mitchell

“RBG” – “I ask no favor for my sex.  All I ask of our brethren is that they take their feet off our necks.” – Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, quoting Sarah Grimke Ms. Grimke, a feminist pioneer, lived during the 19th century, and her feelings certainly were justified for the time.  Well, in the enlightening documentary “RBG”, we see that Justice Ginsburg took these words to heart in the 20th and 21st century, due to the state of women’s rights in the 1970s.  In the process, she became…