Iron Jawed Angels
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Movie Reviews of Iron Jawed Angels
Movie Review: Watch This With Your Daughters
Summary: 5 Stars
This story is especially poignant now, while America is in the midst of a presidential election where a woman, Hillary Clinton, is vying for the Democratic nomination, and all the candidates are sloganeering the concept of "change." Iron Jawed Angels portrays the struggles and sacrifices made by the Suffragists Alice Paul (portrayed by Hilary Swank) and Lucy Burns (portrayed by Frances O'Connor). Along with their diverse team of recruits--from a senator's wife to an immigrant factory worker--they surpassed the efforts of their "older sisters" and succeeded in changing the old guard political machinery of the United States, winning the right for women to vote.
Call them Suffragists, call them Feminists, women who've fought for rights in our nation's history have often been portrayed as masculine, ball-busting bra-burners. This film does a beautiful job at depicting the beauty and intelligence of these modern, college-educated women, and isn't afraid to show them admiring fashion or worrying about how their hair looks. At the same time, it pays homage to the original Suffragists, including Carrie Chapman Catt (portrayed by Angelica Houston) who succeeded Susan B. Anthony as head of the National Woman Suffrage Association. The upbeat musical score pumps additional energy into the telling of these tireless women, willing to give everything for their cause. We, their descendents, owe them a debt of gratitude.
Hillary Clinton may be breaking the so-called glass ceiling in today's American politics; however, she has it EASY compared to Alice Paul and Lucy Burns and what it took to pass the 19th Amendment, giving women the right to vote.
Michele Cozzens is the author of It's Not Your Mother's Bridge Club
Movie Review: Top-notch effort at depicting the fight leading to the women's right to vote in the USA
Summary: 5 Stars
Iron Jawed Angels depicts the final stages of the battle for the women's right to vote. This is an excellent HBO production, and it plays more like a big-screen release than a made-for-TV production (as HBO is known to do).
The centerpiece of this film is the work of Alice Paul (Hillary Swank) and Lucy Burns. These sufferagettes met in England and brought their passion home to the United States in 1912. They attracted a group of young, dedicated, educated women that went to work in Washington, D.C.,to lobby for the vote. This is the same year Woodrow Wilson took office. Their decision to picket the White House, even during the early days of WWI brought down the ire of many people upon them, and even resulted in their unlawful arrests and imprisonment. Alice Paul was the heart and soul of this effort and, though she was a relative latecomer to the fight, provided the spark that inspired women to take up the challenge. The treatment of the sufferagettes in prison was eye-opening.
The cast is amazing, and there is not a weak performance among them. You will see many familiar faces among the cast.
The film is of high quality and deserves to be seen. There are a few disjointed scenes here and there, like Swank in the bathtub, but all in all, it is an excellent period piece dramatizing actual events.
Watching a film like this makes me ashamed about the times I have taken for granted the right to vote, and inspired me to be a better-informed voter and citizen.
5 stars, without a doubt.
Movie Review: Iron Jawed, Iron Will
Summary: 5 Stars
Has HBO films just been on a roll lately, or what? From making the critically acclaimed and beautifully haunting miniseries "Angels in America", to the late Peter Sellers biopic, they seem to have cornered the market on creative, intellectually powerful films. Case in point: the beautifully haunting and critically acclaimed movie about the women's sufferage movement called "Iron Jawed Angels".
Recounting the desire to give women the right to vote, "Iron Jawed Angels" spans eight years in that divisive, poltically charged movement of people truly desiring equality. Played brilliantly by Hilary Swank, sufferagette Alice Paul becomes the powerhouse behind the movement, taking it from what was a more genteel group of women to one championing civil disobdience. Taking up the cause with her, Lucy Burns, played by Aussie actress Frances O'Connor, the two become an fiercesome force.
One thing that's amazing about this video is how little of a deal it is today that women vote. No one gives it a second thought. But back then, people were rioting over the fact that women wanted a voice in their own government. It makes me wonder how many causes today, when people look back 80 years from now, they will wonder what the big deal was at all.
Little has ever been taught about the price these women have paid in schools, but this video, and the contribution they have made should be taught across this country, period.
Movie Review: This film should be mandatory in all public schools.
Summary: 5 Stars
While many people can state that the 19th ammendment gave women the right to vote in the United States, few people really think about either the process that it took to get there and even fewer think about the context of the times in which it occurred. This film is brilliantly acted and exceptionally well written. It addresses the process of getting the ammendment passed and it addresses the fact that this battle was waged during World War 1.
I personally believe that all high schools (Public and private) should screen and discuss this film. We are so fortunate to live in a place and time when we CAN have a voice in our government but many even now do not have that right. Watching the struggle of our ancestors, knowing that their were those that died IN THIS COUNTRY so that I can participate in my government is an important reminder to all citizens all the time.
One important point - the force-feeding scene is graphic. While we should not shy away from it (This was what killed some of the early sufferagettes. The folks doing the forced feeding were often neither skilled nor gentle.), it is important to not inflict this film on anyone too young. Please do not show it to anyone under 15. I've heard the argument, "She's mature. She can handle it." and I submit to you that she might be able to handle it but she shouldn't have to do so.
Movie Review: Watch it with your daughters, share it with your friends, and VOTE!
Summary: 5 Stars
This HBO movie, made on a shoestring budget, is a visually gorgeous film, with an engaging script, excellent acting and a message for Third-wave feminists and the so-called "post-feminists".
Iron Jawed Angels really speaks to young women, drawing parallels between today's employed, educated, intelligent women who are just too busy to be activists, and our political elder stateswomen, who are so often horrified that we seem to be taking our rights for granted and not fighting to extend and preserve what we have. The young feminists of the 1910s shocked their elders with their protests (see Code Pink), their smoking (see Sex in the City), their sexual liberty (see sex positive feminism) and their will to power.
What's amazing about this film is that so little of it ever crosses a school-child's desk. As a product of the public schools, where we rarely got past the Civil War, and nearly never made it to this time period, I found the film eye-opening and shocking but also hopeful and important. I will never cast a ballot again without thanking the women who were beaten, abused, force-fed and considered quite possibly insane so that I could vote.
If we don't remember the sacrifices our political aunts made for us, and if we don't exercise the rights they won for us, we risk losing those rights.