Lately, I feel a weight on my shoulders when I attend a movie that is directed by a woman. I watch anxiously hoping to be inspired to
promote the film and filmmaker - knowing how rare it is for mainstream
films to be directed by a woman. (Less than 7% of studio productions this year
were directed by women.) The stakes are great.
One bad movie by a woman director reinforces the view that women are not
as good as men. One flop is proof that nobody wants to watch movies by women.
These myths persist no matter how many big hits are helmed by women. It is not
easy to change a patriarchal system that is so entrenched in our culture that
many don’t believe it exists. But no progress is ever made without a struggle. So
here we are.
Fortunately, “Suffragette” was developed by the female team
that created the acclaimed film, “Brick Lane,” including director Sarah Gavron,writer Abi Morgan, and producers Alison Owen and Faye Ward. I sat upright in my theater seat, poised
for a prim and proper BBC style biopic. But I was immediately thrust into the brutal
world of the suffragettes along with weary textile worker and mother, Maud (Carey
Mulligan). I was shocked by the
unflinching depiction of her dismal work conditions and the extreme use of
violence by the police to crush the women who protested.
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| Faye Ward (producer), Abi Morgan (Screen Writer)Alison Owen (producer) and Sarah Gavron (Director) looking at original police documents. |
This gritty enactment
was born out of thorough research on the first foot soldiers from the early
feminist movement (concentrating on 1912-13), when the women were forced to
pursue a dangerous game of cat and mouse with the increasingly violent state.
A fine piece of visual storytelling, “Suffragette” engaged
my heart as well as my mind, showing just why women’s suffrage is so important
to protect the basic human rights of women (and children) in a patriarchal
society. By law, women and children were
men’s property. So women were beaten,
imprisoned, lost their jobs and even their children for fighting for the right
to vote.
The theme is relevant today. In this time when women’s’
rights and health care are being threatened, it is vital for women to safeguard
their rights by voting. “Suffragette”
reminds us that those rights didn’t come easy. Men didn’t gift us with the right to vote. Real
women fought hard for over 70 years for the right to demand better working
conditions at the polls. I hope "Suffragette" inspires us to fight for fair working conditions for everyone.
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| Ada from Jane Campion's "The Piano" |
I haven’t felt so moved by a movie since Jane Campion’s “The Piano.” I remember wailing, not crying – wailing, when the pianist’s finger
was heartlessly hacked off by her possessive husband. That image resonated with my artist soul that
had been similarly amputated by our capitalistic society. Both of these films moved me from a place deep
within. Both of these films were created
by women. There is something that these
women filmmakers brought to these pictures - an understanding, a sensitivity that
comes from a place of true understanding that you can only get from
experiencing a similar struggle.
Movie blessings,
Jana Segal
www.reelinspiration.blogspot.com
