Suffragette

Every year I teach the memoir Night by Elie Wiesel to my sophomores.  I am always amazed at their intense reaction to this book.  I sometimes think that my students know, intellectually, that the Holocaust happened but they don't really have an understanding of how it actually affected real people until they read about Elie's first-hand experiences in a concentration camp.  Last night I went to see the movie Suffragette and, like my students, I feel like I had an intellectual understanding of the fight for women's suffrage but I didn't really know the horror of what these women went through until I saw events depicted on the big screen.  This movie was a visceral experience for me.  The story revolves around Maud Watts (Carey Mulligan), a young woman who works in deplorable conditions at a laundry earning much less than her male counterparts.  She learns of the women's suffrage movement from her co-workers and eventually becomes caught up in the cause.  As she becomes more involved, she endures social ostracism, the loss of her job, and the loss of her family.  It is heartbreaking to see, especially when her husband takes away her son, and I was horrified at the treatment many women received in prison, particularly when they are force-fed during a hunger strike.  These events were so upsetting to me that I actually had tears in my eyes for much of the movie.  Mulligan gives an incredible performance as Maud and Helena Bonham Carter is perfect as a fellow suffragette.  Bonham Carter plays so many eccentric characters that it is easy to forget that she is an exceptionally talented actress.  Ben Whishaw was very effective as Sonny, Maud's husband, because I hated him by the end of the movie (I like him better as Q).  I found it a bit odd that Meryl Streep had less than five minutes of screen time as Emmeline Pankhurst, a noted real-life leader of the movement, because she was featured so heavily in the marketing of the movie.  Many critics feel that the narrative is, at times, very heavy-handed.   However, I feel that the honest depiction of the struggle was necessary to show someone like me that I shouldn't take my very privileged life for granted.  I highly recommend this movie, especially to young women.

Note:  I have never enjoyed being told what to do so I feel sure that, had I lived during this time period, I would have been a suffragette!