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It might be tempting these days to wonder how the American constitutional democracy, with its messy trilateral system of checks and balances ever really worked. “Lilly,” a film by writer-director Rachel Feldman, offers a timely reminder that it wasn’t that long ago that one ordinary person,with tenacity and conviction, was able to move all three branches of government to tackle a seemingly unsolvable problem. Lilly Ledbetter’s harrowing experience with discrimination at the Goodyear Tire factory in her hometown of Gadsden, Alabama, inspired a national movement for fair pay for women. We meet her amid the cheers and optimism of the Democratic Convention in 2008, nearly a decade into her fight for fair pay. “I’m here to talk about America’s commitment to fairness and equality,” she told that star-spangled crowd. From the back, we see the actual Ledbetter,her blonde hair bobbed, her shoulders squared, her gentle southern twang warming up the audience in archival footage that pans in on a younger, fleshier Joe Biden and convention-goers waving flags. When we hear her speak again, actress Patricia Clarkson is Ledbetter at the lectern: smiling warmly, pausing to take in the moment.

A veteran television writer and director, Feldman deftly contextualizes"Lilly" within history by interspersing the 90-minute narrative film with segments of archival footage that emphasize the scope of Ledbetter’s trajectory from a small-town, blue-collar worker to a leading advocate for America’s working women. It is a technique that, with the help of some fictional adaptations, turns what might have been a traditional biopic into a thriller. The hybrid reality invites us into the intimacy of Ledbetter’s marriage to her husband, Charles Ledbetter, played by John Benjamin Hickey, who initially pushed back on the idea of his wife working outside of the home, telling her when she took the job at Goodyear in 1979, that she was“taking a man’s job.” But Ledbetter is resolved: their family needs the money,and she put up with abuse, disrespect and isolation. for 20 years at Goodyear to earn it. Finally, in 1998, as she is about to retire, she learns she has been being paid a fraction of what her male colleagues have earned, and we see Charles support her decision to fight for her back-pay.

These glimpses inside the Ledbetter home, with its parallel power struggles and peacemaking, give the story its emotional underpinning. Feldman,whose backstory includes an analogous fight for gender parity in Hollywood, layers in news footage that shows how Ledbetter’s story gained public support at the highest level. “Every woman of Lilly's generation knew, that if you were the first woman in a field that has been occupied by men you don’t want to be known as a complainer. You don’t want to rock the boat,” explains Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg in one of the many interviews she did on television describing how she hoped that writing a dissent in Lilly Ledbetter’s appeal to the Supreme Court would inspire Congress to pass legislation to correct America’s pay inequity. Fortunately, a young senator named Barack Obama took up her cause and made the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 the first major piece of legislation he signed as president. Lilly Ledbetter died last October, having collaborated with Feldman to create a film that might inspire others to challenge the system and bring about needed change.

“It’s been my dream to have my story made into a movie because I believe that we can continue to affect the status quo through popular culture,” Ledbetter told Deadline news’ David Robb in 2017. “I know in my heart of hearts that Rachel Feldman is the perfect filmmaker to bring it to life. Not only is Rachel incredibly talented and experienced, but she understands the complexity of my search for justice because she herself has experienced a parallel struggle in Hollywood.”

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