Film No. 3. (2016) Suffragette January 12th.

Film No. 3 (2016) January 12th.  6.30 PM  FENWICK 3 Cimenas  Esperance.

 

"All my life I've done what men told me, I can't have that anymore" (Maud Watts (Cary Mulligan) tells it from the heart)

As the screen goes to black after experiencing this handsome, well crafted film the real truth about the plight of women to secure voting rights through the ages and varying cultures is revealed. The young nations of New Zealand and Australia lead the world (turn of the century)in giving women the vote. It was the established European societies including France (1944), Italy (1945), Switzerland (1971) which surprised. This led me to think The Suffrage movement of the early 1900's certainly sped up the process for equality in the U.K. This film cleverly tells some of their story.

We are given a sometimes excruciating journey into the plight of these brave women via the fictitious Maud Watts (Cary Mulligan) and her confidant, pharmacist Edith Ellyn (Helena Bonham-Carter). Watts, a working class East Ender who slaved for thirteen shillings a week in a grotty laundry and is forced to give up her family for the cause. Edith and Violet (Anne-Marie Duff) are allies who offer differing backgrounds, repressions and sacrifices thus giving weight to Abi Morgan's meaty but sometimes cliched script.


Suffragette cleverly uses the fiction depicting Maud, Edith and Violet to fold the legendary figures of the movement, Emmeline Pankhurst (Meryl Streep) and Emily Davidson (Natalie Press), into the story. This gives the film a clarity and a toehold in a time we've only witnessed via sepia photographs and grainy film vision. The passion by which our fictional characters (the foot soldiers) devote their lives to gaining the vote for women brings a greater clarity to the roles played by Pankhurst and Davidson in real life.


So even through our experiences with Maud up until 1913, it was another 5 years before parliament passed a bill to allow women of 30 years and older the vote. It was another 10 years before the right was extended to women over 21 years of age. It only goes to show the rage which must have continued amongst the likes of Maud, Edith and Violet as they sacrificed what little place in society they had. We can learn so much of history via film, Suffragette is yet another powerful contribution to this notion. 9GUMS.