FILM REVIEW - Iron Jawed Angels PDF

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Review de la película "Iron Jawed Angels"...

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ultad de Filosofía y Letras artamento de Filología Inglesa, Francesa y Alemana

CULTURES OF THE UNITED STATES

PRACTICE ASSESSMENT TASK

ACKNOWLEDGING WOMEN’ S CONTRIBUTION TO US

CULTURE

TASK: WRITING A FILM REVIEW

Film title and date Iron Jawed Angels (2004) Director: Katja von Garnier Production data:

Screen writer: Sally Robinson, Eugenia Bostwick-Singer, Raymond Singer and Jennifer Friedes. Production company: HBO films, Blue Dominion Productions, Blue Bird House and Spring Creek Prod.

Protagonists and main supporting actors: Hilary Swank as Alice Paul and Frances O’Connor as Lucy Burns. Country: United States Further relevant data: The film was nominated for five awards at 56th Primetime Emmy Awards, three awards at the 62nd Golden Globe Awards and two awards at the 9th Golden Satellite Awards,

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Cover of the film

The celebration of the 19th Amendment, being women finally able to vote.

REVIEW Iron Jawed Angels is a 2004 film based on the American’s women suffrage movement from 1912 to 1919, taking place in Washington D.C and Philadelphia. At that time, the United Kingdom was also struggling for the women’s rights and The First World War was about to happen. The plot revolves around Alice Paul and Lucy Burns, two suffragists from the United Kingdom interested in struggling for the women’s right to vote as only nine states of America had passed it. They meet the NAWSA and Carrie Chapman Catt, the president of the organization, disapproves the British suffragist techniques, seeing them as violent and radical. She rejects the petition of campaigning as well, but she allows Alice and Lucy to organize a woman suffrage parade in Washington. Moreover, they would lead the committee of the city, where they start from scratch as well as they must manage well to succeed. These scenes depict how hard is to start a project, especially when it has to do with a marginalised class. Actually, the factory women workers are afraid of supporting the cause because they would be fired but Alice convinces them by saying “A vote is a fire escape”, revealing that 146 women died in a factory due to the lack of a fire escape. Needing protection for the parade, Lucy contacts the police but most of the cops will be accompanying President Wilson and before hanging up they told her that they should be better at home. The latter could be related to the concept of “Angel of the house”, a model of femininity in which women were meant to be housewives and mothers. Besides, the issue of racial segregation will be very visible when Ida B. Wells asks Alice why African American women have to march in the back of the parade. Going on with the suffrage’s promotion and donations, the girls end up in a social event of the upper class and Alice meets Ben Weissman, an editorial cartoonist of The Washington Post. From the very first moment, there will be mutual attraction even though Alice is also interested in him because of his job. Ben considers the vote as useless, taking for granted that nothing would change in politics, so Alice reprehends him, and he finally starts supporting the cause, mostly because he likes her. The day of the parade, men are extremely offended so there will be a growing tension that leads to the interruption of the event. Men’s opposition emphasise the scene’s importance, which depicts them as the only ones who could vote as women were considered inferior, so they see as an insult to put both genders at the same level in society. Due to the public scandal, the committee gains publicity and the girls decide to meet President Wilson, who is more interested in economic issues than in the women suffrage’s amendment, whose proposal is vetoed later. Furthermore, the wife of Senator Tom Leighton secretly supports the suffragist movement, but he finds out the donations she has made, thus confiscating her bank account. There could be some connection between the Adam’s matrimony and the Leighton’s one, although the latter is fictional: both belong to an upper-class traditional family, John and Tom are both politicians and their wives, Abigail and Emily, defend the women’s right to vote. Then, Alice and Lucy are expelled of the NAWSA organization, so they create their own, known as the NWP, which will be firstly promoted by Ben. Carrie Chapman will sternly criticise the new women’s party by saying that they were republican supporters whereas the NAWSA support Wilson. Ironically, the Democratic Party denied the women’s right to vote. Four years later, it is time of elections and the NWP goes for campaigning in the different states.

Inez Milholland witnessed the First World War in France, leaving her with an indelible impression but Alice encourages her to carry on with the campaign in California, where she falls ill and dies. As Wilson is re-elected, Alice feels discouraged and guilty of Inez’s death, but Lucy finally convinces her to continue with the movement. In 1917, they keep on struggling and they will campaign in front of the White House against all odds, showing their bravery and determination. In order to have one-track mind for the suffrage’s fight, Alice moves away from Ben as she cannot get involved in a family at that moment. The United States will join the Great War, so they could not campaign any more as it was treason and meant too much pressure for the president. Nevertheless, they continue to campaign there again, so they will be arrested by police and sent to jail, where they experience hard conditions. Alice starts a hunger strike, an Irish tradition in which people protest until they reach their goal, and she is followed by the other woman. Before being force-fed, they sing a song known as Can the circle be unbroken?, expressing that women will always be united. Emily meets her husband, whom she passes a note exposing the jail’s conditions. Too much pressure will be put on President Wilson, who finally accepts the amendment’s proposal. During its approval, one vote changed at the last minute will definitely pass the 19th Amendment, granting American women the right to vote. The last scene represents a general joy and the freedom for what Alice and Lucy have fought for. Personally, I think that the film is moving and thought-provoking as it depicts us the enormous sacrifice these women went through to have what we many of us take for granted nowadays such as being treated equally in society or the change of the women’s role. BIBLIOGRAPHY https://www.ukessays.com/essays/media/the-movie-iron-jawed-angels.php https://www.history.com/topics/womens-history/19th-amendmenthttp://ironjawedangelsmediasmarts.blogspot.com/p/characters.html https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0338139/ http://iron-jawed-angels.com/...