Ahead of Time (2009)

90% of critics liked it
(10 reviews)
63% of users liked it
(52 ratings)

Born in Brooklyn in 1911, Ruth Gruber became the youngest PhD in the world before going on to become an international foreign correspondent and photojournalist at age 24. She emerged as the eyes and conscience of the world. With her love of adventure, fearlessness and powerful intellect, Ruth defied… More Born in Brooklyn in 1911, Ruth Gruber became the youngest PhD in the world before going on to become an international foreign correspondent and photojournalist at age 24. She emerged as the eyes and conscience of the world. With her love of adventure, fearlessness and powerful intellect, Ruth defied tradition in an extraordinary career that has spanned more than seven decades. The first journalist to enter the Soviet Arctic in 1935, Ruth also traveled to Alaska as a member of the Roosevelt administration in 1942, escorted Holocaust refugees to America in 1944, covered the Nuremberg trials in 1946 and documented the Haganah ship Exodus in 1947. Her relationships with world leaders including Eleanor Roosevelt, President Harry Truman, and David Ben Gurion gave her unique access and insight into the modern history of the Jewish people. Ruth is an inspiration not only for her ground-breaking career, but for her vitality and humor at 98 years old. The film interweaves verite scenes with never-seen-before archival footage. The world premiere of Ahead of Time took place at the Toronto International Film Festival 2009. -- (C) Official Site

Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 1 hr. 13 min.
Directed By: Robert Richman
Genres: Documentary, Special Interest

In Theaters: Sep 10, 2010 Limited
Studio: Vitagraph

Critic Reviews

Stephanie Merry, Washington Post
Through interviews, photos and letters, Robert Richman's documentary gives insight into Gruber's life as well as the immense potential that comes with an irrepressible personality and a good dose of patience.
Tom Horgen, Minneapolis Star Tribune
The film packs a staggering amount of Gruber's life into 75 minutes.
Tom Russo, Boston Globe
There are points where shots of Gruber's old newspaper clips actually supply clearer information than the narrative (for quick-reading viewers, at any rate).
Gary Goldstein, Los Angeles Times
Although Gruber's personal life and latter accomplishments are mostly addressed via a few closing sentences, Ahead remains a fleet and fitting tribute.
Andy Webster, New York Times
[This] graceful documentary portrait directed by Bob Richman, illustrates just how extraordinary her life [subject Ruth Gruber] has been.
Aaron Hillis, Village Voice
Richman does a bang-up job with rare archival footage and new vérité interviews, even allowing for Gruber's acquaintances and their descendants to grill the still-sharp nonagenarian.
Tricia Olszewski, Washington City Paper
This now-99-year-old Brooklyn native can still tell a good yarn -- and her accomplishments make a pretty compelling story, too.
Betsy Sherman, Boston Phoenix
The journalist as advocate and activist has rarely been contained in a more compelling package than Ruth Gruber.
Joseph Jon Lanthier, Slant Magazine
Richman's eye for talking-head cleanliness and spritely archival interpolation betrays the project's undeniable professionalism.
Nick Schager, Time Out New York
A case study in pioneering feminist courage, ambition and individualism.

Read all 10 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Walter M

"Ahead of Time" is a mildly interesting documentary that serves as a pedestrian walk back through time for Dr. Ruth Gruber who at 96 finds herself recalling events from her fabulous life. At the age of 20, she earned a doctorate on the books of Virginia Woolf in Cologne,… More
"Ahead of Time" is a mildly interesting documentary that serves as a pedestrian walk back through time for Dr. Ruth Gruber who at 96 finds herself recalling events from her fabulous life. At the age of 20, she earned a doctorate on the books of Virginia Woolf in Cologne, Germany where she also heard Adolf Hitler speak, just to see if he was as evil as everybody was saying he was. After that, it was hard finding work as a writer in the Great Depression but she eventually landed assignments from the New York Herald Tribune, serving as a role model for women in the same way that Virginia Woolf had served for her.(For example, Dava Sobel is her niece.) Through Ruth Gruber's life, she was a trailblazer but it was not until after World War II when the historical impact of her actions began to take hold. It was then that she covered the plight of Jewish refugees, showing their suffering for all the world to see, especially the story of the ship Exodus which attempted to bring some of them to Palestine against British orders. Not surprisingly the passengers' ordeal was more complex than in the Otto Preminger movie. What's ironic is the copy of a Preminger biography amongst all the other books in her apartment. It definitely helps that Ike Aronowitz, the captain of the Exodus, and Mordechai Rossman, the leader of the refugees, are on hand to be interviewed. But this is where the documentary ends, too, only disclosing the books Ruth Gruber wrote later and that she would get married and have two children.

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