Iron Jawed Angels
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Movie Reviews of Iron Jawed Angels
Movie Review: Seeing this movie is a revolutionary experience
Summary: 5 Stars
Only because Mary Poppins was released during the beginning of America's second wave of feminism was its `sister suffragettes' number inspiring during that film.
Yet the 1964 snippet of British suffrage tactics completely and convieniently overlooked their radical strategies in favor of bouncy and pert cheerleading which could otherwise found at a high school game. While acknowledging the need for women's rights, that same film also presented the women as pampered housewives who were really too busy for their families.
Thank goodness this HBO movie is much more realistic about the American-British radical suffrage struggle.
Alice Paul (Hillary Swank) and company may be conventionally attractive, but they are also not afraid to show how openly ticked off they are about being held to laws they cannot help form.
Much to the chagrin of the older `respectable' American suffragists (who want to wait for men to give them the vote), the British experience encourages demand for full sociopolitical equality. When they are jailed for their convictions, the women refuse to eat. By our modern expectations, the prison response (shown in graphic detail) is especially brutal.
For all of their progressive politics, Paul and company downplay race ironically in a time when such justice is most needed. Paul personally welcomes support of Delta Sigma Theta and other African American organizations, but worries their public presence will either undo or prevent the critical southern support necessary to winning suffrage. It is not easy to admit that our movement has an imperfect past, but it is important to ensuring a socially just future for all members. This conciousness is a marked improvement from days when even feminists themselves assumed their experiences applied for all women and race was a separate issue.
Another plus, this same movie recognizes men have always supported the suffrage movement not because they wanted a partner, already had one, or were lobbied until they had no other public choice---but out of similar social justice concern.
Again, earlier suffrage depictions (as with the larger feminist movement) erroneously claimed that the movement was all women. This more accurate historical picture may convince male viewers they have a similar obligation to work for the continuation of modern women's equality. Other men will question their motives and some women will question their sincerity. But equality is really everybody's fight.
Attending a college, which was founded by many suffragists, the emphasis on women college graduates (then a statistical minority) was especially sobering. Despite our current knowledge of women's studies and gender theory, I don't think my generation (including myself) appreciates how fortunate we are when we would have been jeered at in earlier generations for receiving a college degree. After seeing this movie, I walked across my own campus trying to imagine some of the local townspeople (opposed to the idea of women receiving a college education in their town) threatening us on a near constant basis.
Precisely because Paul's Equal Rights Amendment was not ratified by the required states by the 1982 deadline, the film ends on a melancholy note. Paul's work remains half-finished and we have moral obligation to ensure the ERA becomes part of the constitution.
Encouraging viewers to complete the revolution, the movie turns armchair loungers into activists.
Movie Review: The Hard-Fought Victory for Women's Suffrage.
Summary: 5 Stars
"Iron Jawed Angels" dramatizes the last leg of the fight to win the right to vote for American women. It focuses on the work of young suffragettes Alice Paul (Hilary Swank) and Lucy Burns (Frances O'Conner) from their arrival in Washington, D.C. in 1912 until just before the 19th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified in 1920. Paul and Burns represented the younger generation of suffragettes who were less willing to bide their time playing politics until the nation's politicians came around to their way of thinking. They were brash, bold, brave and so self-righteous that they must have thought themselves invincible. But the time for extreme tactics had come, and even picketing President Woodrow Wilson during the US's involvement in World War I ultimately produced good results, though at a high price. "Iron Jawed Angels" follows Paul and Burns' fight for the vote through their atttention-stealing Inauguration Day parade in 1912, attempts to lobby Congress, their split with the National Women's Suffrage Association, formation of the National Women's Party, their 1916 cross-country trip to rally voters against any Democratic candidate who opposed a constitutional amendment giving women the vote, and their imprisonment for picketing a wartime president and subsequent hunger strike. There is constant strife between Alice Paul and the older generation of suffragettes, who are experienced in the ways of government and politically savvy, but disdain the obnoxious tactics that the younger generation embrace. Most notable of the older generation of suffragettes is Carrie Chapman Catt, played to perfection by Angelica Huston, who is imposing and clever, if old-fashioned.
Director Katja von Garnier has brought this story to life with a stellar cast and contemporary style. The film and sound editing are bold. The soundtrack is modern and upbeat. I questioned that decision when I first heard contemporary pop sounds pumping as Alice Paul crossed a street in 1912. But the style grew on me, and I came to appreciate the director's unconventional but oddly effective choices in scoring the film. The cast is great. Hilary Swank hits just the right note as Alice Paul -over and over again. I have never liked Frances O'Conner in anything, but she's perfect as Lucy Burns. It's a joy to hear Anjelica Huston speak as Carrie Chapman Catt, even if she is a stuffy character. Molly Parker gives perhaps the most emotionally affecting performance as Emily Leighton, wife of Senator Thomas Leighton, who supported the suffrage cause against her husband's wishes. Hers is an Oscar-calibre performance. Julia Ormond and Bob Gunton are also notable as suffragette Inez Mulholland and Pres. Woodrow Wilson, respectively. "Iron Jawed Angels" creatively and passionately presents the victory for women's suffrage and the story of those who fought and won it.
The DVD: There is an audio commentary by director Katja von Garnier and screenwriter Sally Robinson. The commentary is very casual and discusses filming and sound editing decisions and recounts a few anecdotes. It's honestly not very informative or interesting. No need to feel you missed anything if you skip it. Subtitles for the film are available in English, Spanish, and French. Dubbing is available in Spanish and French.
Movie Review: The hard and sometimes violent road to the vote
Summary: 5 Stars
Closing in on 100 years after women gained the right to vote in America, few know what a momentous struggle it was to establish the franchise among the female half of the population. "Iron Jawed Angels" tries to erase the misconception that the work of getting the vote was just the work of quaintly-dressed, semi-masculine suffragettes. In actuality, the road was long, frustrating and sometimes violent.
The movie focuses on Alice Paul, a young Quaker PhD from Swarthmore, played brilliantly by Hilary Swank. Paul represents the new breed of suffrage worker who, armed with advanced degrees and a passion for activism and justice, make the final push for the franchise. The movie shows us the difficult work of organizing reluctant women to support voting, as well as the political infighting that took place within the movement, Older suffrage supporters, like Carrie Chapman Catt (played by the magnificent Angelica Huston) have been firmly, patiently, yet unsuccessfully asking for the vote for years. Deferential to men in power, they hope to gain the vote by slowly amassing support at the state level. Alice Paul and her young comrades, like Lucy Burns (played by Frances O'Connor) and Reverend Anna Howard Shaw (played by Lois Smith) take a different tack, "manning" the phones and organizing public events to bring attention to their demand for the vote. But when World War I begins, there is a dilemma in the movement. Should suffragism go underground again until the hostilities end? Or is this the time to press even harder? When Alice Paul and her cohorts decide to go for it, they set in motion a series of events that leads to violence, imprisonment under trumped up charges and abuse.
Though "Iron Jawed Angels" is excellent, it has a few problems, notably the awkward title, which is equally descriptive and disparaging of the suffragists' determination. Then, there is the unfortunate (but predictable) love interest for Paul - Ben Weissman, a fictional newspaper cartoonist played by hunky Patrick Dempsey. A particualrly unfortunate bathtub scene (you'll know it when you see it.) in which Hilary muses on an afternoon encounter with Weissman, comes close to devolving into soft porn. Such nonsense is both unnecessary and out of keeping with the film's uplifting tone of female empowerment.
"Iron-Jawed Angels" is smartly written, very well acted and informative about a historical period that mostly wins smirks. Great acting turns by the above named as well as by Vera Farmiga as a Russian immigrant and Molly Parker as the timid wife of a US Senator. The film's best line is delivered at a White House meeting with a reluctant President Woodrow Wilson. When a comparison of suffragist demands to Patrick Henry's "Give me Liberty of give me Death" speech is called "apples and oranges," a participant says that "In oranges and women, courage is often mistaken for insanity." This film tells the true story about courage and a drive for equality and justice. Inspiring and moving.
Movie Review: The struggles continue...
Summary: 5 Stars
What a splendid film! Imagine what it must have been like for women in that era. And, yet, they stood up and took it. The yelling, the violence, the loss of security... The beautiful Inez, like a Joan of Arc, she perished under the weight of her calling. As I watched the scenes in the "workhouse" (jail) and the hunger strike, I was struck by the brutality of the forced feedings. It is so sad that this practice continues (in an even cruder form) in Guantanamo to people who still haven't been charged with crimes, people who may be innocent. Instead of devolving,as we seem to be lately, our democracy should be evolving. The problem is that most Americans are out of touch with their history.
If more young women watched this film, they would know how hard won are the freedoms that many take for granted. If more young people knew labor history, they would know that they can thank the blood, sweat,and tears of people who proceeded them for their weekends, vacations, and 8 hour days. Even now, though, we are sliding behind. Europeans, who borrowed our notions of labor law, have bypassed us and their workers have greater benefits and work less hours.
I'm glad that Alice Paul isn't here to see young women of today rate each other's worth on talk shows by how much jewelry men give them. It's pretty sad... I hope more young people watch these kinds of films, read books that give them history from the perspective of the governed, like Howard Zinn's "People's History of the United States."
I thought the actors all did a superb job - even Dr. McDreamy - who I guiltily admit to enjoy watching in Grey's Anatomy on Sunday nights. Someone reviewing remarked that his smirking detracted from this movie. Yeah.. he does have the same look on Grey's Anatomy. That reminds me of something a friend pointed out to me years ago. He said (for those who are old enough to remember this actor), that Richard Widmark had two facial expressions - blank and confused. Well, let's hope this younger actor can master more than a smirk in the future. It was nice,though, to see a man as a decoration in a woman's movie. The pretty man, upstaged, and pining away for the strong woman. You gotta love that!
Movie Review: Supplication vs Demand
Summary: 5 Stars
I absolutely love this film. Amazon must make a bundle on it since I don't know of a video store that carries it. What a shame - men and women of all ages find this movie appealing and I have sent quite a few online to order their own copies. I use this in my U.S. History II class and will be using it in my Women in American History class next fall. The film gives us insight as to how social movements actually succeed in this country.
If Carrie Chapman Catt's strategy was left to wend it's merry way through the states, many of us would still not be able to vote. Alice Paul's militancy pushed Wilson to the wall- woman's suffrage was no longer a petition, or supplication, but a demand for political equality under the Constitution.(At this time the 16th Amendment was working its way through the states to be ratified in 1913.) Paul in a face- to-face meeting with the President, reminds him that women pay taxes and that "taxation without representation" was the reason for the American Revolution.
Paul strategically deepened the movement by successfully appealing to wealthy women and by forming ties with radical women in the labor movement- connecting labor's need for the vote as a way of fulfilling their own agenda- by obliquely referring to the Triangle Shirtwaist fire.
Yet it is truly the combination of Catt and Paul that win the battle. Neither could have done it alone. Paul was able to embarrass the administration into proposing the amendment, but it is Catt's organization, already at work in the states, that gets the amendment ratified.
A factor not to be overlooked was that Wilson was able to save face by claiming that he was "rewarding" the ladies (in Catt's organization-NAWSA) and that the radical element (Paul's NWP)had in no way influenced his decision to support the amendment. Unfortunately,for many years that is the account that historians and even women's historians have repeated. This film, based on the Doris Steven's account, Jailed for Freedom, sets the record straight.