Director: Sarah Gavron
Writer: Abi Morgan
Starring: Carey Mulligan, Helena Bonham Carter & Meryl Streep.
***
A really fantastic and thought-provoking movie about the fight by a few British women in the early 1900's to gain equality in terms of wages and also to obtain the right to vote. The entire idea, obviously, is abhorrent to most men, who've been used to running the show and most consider their wives as their property.
The group of activists led by Maude Watts (brilliantly portrayed by Carey Mulligan) are coming under increasing pressure from the government of the day, all men, and, naturally in the face of this movement, unimpressed. One of the most harrowing scenes is that of a peaceful rally turned violent by the police themselves, and after that, many women are arrested and sent to jail. They are stuck there in terrible conditions, by way of a warning from the government. The entire film is bleak, and much more impactful as a result.
Not much stops these impressive women - not even when they are force-fed in jail after going on a hunger strike. Even when Maud loses everything she has, including her husband and son - the sequence where the little boy is taken away for adoption is one of the hardest to watch; you can see why Mulligan has been so lauded for her performance in this film - she does not give up the fight, taking over as the figurehead for the enigmatic Emmeline Pankhurst (Meryl Streep) who is in hiding, Public Enemy No. 1 as far as the Lloyd George government is concerned.
The climax of the film, at a racetrack, is brilliantly-shot. I love a good historical movie, and 'Suffragette' is definitely that, and more: a stunning tribute to a very brave group of women, who paved the way for women's rights all over the world.
My Rating: 8/10, highly recommended.
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