Laura Dern has always specialized in characters who wander into unknown territory, from Connie flirting her way into danger in her debut film, Smooth Talk and Sandy’s brush with the dark side of Lumberton in David Lynch’s Blue Velvet to the terminally obtuse Amy seeking-self-improvement in HBO’s Enlightened and, of course, as Ellie overwhelmed amongst the dinosaurs of Jurassic Park.
In Citizen Ruth, Dern is once again in over her head, albeit this time it’s not much of a head to start with, what with the paint-huffing and all. She plays Ruth, whom we first see getting humped by some string-haired loser in a flophouse, then summarily thrown out of said flophouse by said stringy-haired loser. Ruth staggers around a landscape of empty warehouses, peeling-paint homes, chain-link fences and crumbling asphalt — in life’s drawer full of sharp knives, she’s a plastic spoon, grabbing at anything that might get her loaded.
When Ruth gets busted — it’s always helpful when the cops already know your name — she discovers that she’s pregnant… for the fifth time. An exasperated judge, who also knows her name and how many times she’s been arrested for “hazardous vapor inhalation” (16), throws a felony charge at her, but also mutters something about how a “visit to the doctor” while she’s in the clink might make things easier. But it just happens that a group of church ladies are praying over sinners at the jail that day and Ruth finds herself whisked away in a fish-adorned minivan and into a pro-life versus pro-choice battle — that gets even more intense once the two sides begin offering Ruth money.
A woman’s right to choose is a political controversy that’s raged across every media forum for decades, but none have given it the humorous and jaundiced eye of Citizen Ruth, where everyone is an over-the-top parody. The “Baby Savers” are primarily middle-aged women with Jiffy-Pop hair and airbrushed kitten sweatshirts cooing about taking the kids “to visit the Tomb of the Unborn Baby,” while a few paunchy hubbies make speeches and try to look like they know what’s going on. The Pro-Choicers are a crew of farm-dwelling lesbians who sing to the moon and are really into group discussions and Guatemalan ponchos. And, of course, Ruth, whose first act upon walking into every room is to see if there’s anything in it that can get her high. (Oven cleaner? Why not?)
Citizen Ruth uses its humor to sharpen the bite of reality when it does hit. The Baby Savers take Ruth to a “clinic” where she is forced to watch movies of abortions, as expression of slack-jawed horror on her face — which is funny until you remember that there are states where things like that are legally mandated. Ruth’s terminally loaded, white trash routine is amusing and then it reminds you of countless sad women you’ve seen lingering outside weekly motels and 7–11s. Laura Dern lets Ruth be doltish and craven and maddening, but she also has moments where the cartoonishness flickers into three dimensions and we see a real woman who hasn’t so much run out of options as never had any to begin with.
None of the characters are likable but, at the same time, you can see everyone’s point. The “Baby Savers” are creepy fetus fetishists, but a women’s choice to have a child or not should not affect her legal future. The Pro-Choicers are self-righteous and tend to think “choice” means their choice, but if someone asks for an abortion, they shouldn’t be deceived and terrorized into not getting one.
Citizen Ruth was released just over 20 years ago — not only does the issue of choice its based around remain current, but its examination of how political forces use people as symbols feels prescient. It was the first full-length film by director Alexander Payne (and, for you trivia fans, the only one not to receive an Oscar or Golden Globe nomination). He followed it up with Election, another examination of politics and the blonde, although it’s very clear that Tracy Flick knows who’s pulling which levers — and it’s also very clear that her appetite for power is as strong as Ruth’s for schnapps and patio sealant.
