Suffragette

Why now? You ask yourself exactly that while watching “Suffragette,” which came out last Friday, and is an effervescent, spirited movie about the fight for voting rights for British women in the early part of the 20^th Century, but then the light dawns. Peter Travers said in his review, “The sad truth is that gender bias has never stopped spreading its toxins and I don't mean just the current race for U.S. President.”

Is the movie a true story? Not entirely. Carey Mulligan’s character, Maud Watts, is a fictional combination meant to represent the women of the time, satisfied to work and be subjugated by their bosses and husbands until, well, they aren’t anymore. Meryl Streep shows up for a sharp cameo as militant advocate Emmeline Pankhurst, who advises that her ladies stop being polite and start throwing bricks. Then there’s Emily Wilding Davison, played by Natalie Press, who thought she could win attention to the cause by stepping in front of King George’s horse at the 1913 Epsom Derby and getting herself ran over and killed. She was right and what a life-threatening task for a media spotlight.

What makes “Suffragette” an appropriate menace, besides Mulligan’s strong, affecting performance, is the way it won’t subject to the kind of Holly formula that shaking of your head about how bad it was – only to wrap everything up with a welcome sign that says, “You’ve come a long way, my friend.” The feminist fight continues. Travers mentioned, “And it powers through this movie even when the contours of the story flirt with the trite.” It helps that two women are at the controls – director Sarah Gavron and screenwriter Abi Morgan.

Travers said, “In lesser hands, Maud's odyssey from workslave to activist would have been a catalogue of female anguish.” We see Maud working at the laundry alongside her husband, Sonny (Ben Whishaw), and too near her touchy boss, Mr. Taylor (Geoff Bell). Another co-worker, Violet Miller, played by Anne-Marie Duff, begs her to join the Women’s Social and Political Union. Still, Maud is hesitant, liking to hide her head at home, caring for her husband and young son, played by Adam Michael Dodd. When fate interferes – as it does in this kind of film – Maud is called on to testify in Parliament and to feel real anger when the prime minister declines the voting-rights bill. In cycle with pharmacist Edith Ellyn, played by Helena Bonham Carter, Maud finds the exciting of a revolutionary inside herself. The price is losing everything.

There are times when the movie builds on trouble with too heavy a hand. At other times, “Suffragette” runs through a fire that cannot be denied. You see it all on Mulligan’s powerful expressive face. Edu Grau, production designer Alice Normington and costume designer Jane Petrie, it is that human face that makes this feminist history relatable to this generation and to generations to come. In a sea of Hollywood leisure activity, “Suffragette” – mistakes and everything – is a movie that matters.

I have to admit, I didn’t really want to watch this movie. When I saw the trailers, I didn’t think that this movie would be up my alley, but my siblings really wanted to watch this movie. However, after seeing it tonight, I can simply say that this is one of the most powerful movies I have ever seen about a part of history that is sadly still going on. Definitely go see it, but be warned: this movie is emotionally difficult to watch. There will be moments that you want to jump in the film and hurt the people that are doing these things, but you can’t do that, and that’s what happens when you watch such hard scenes to sit through. Still, make sure that you go to the theater, and if you want, bring along your friend(s), girlfriend/boyfriend, husband/wife, mom/dad, siblings, but don’t bring along your children, nieces/nephews or grandchildren. This is not a family movie for everyone to watch. Take my word for it.

Well, now that I have done that, stay tuned tomorrow for my conclusion on “Halloween Month” with the final entry in “Hobbit-a-thon.”