IRON JAWED ANGELS - 2004
RATED - NR but probably at least PG for violence and adult themes. The DVD cover (left) is not a reflection of the content of the movie but there is a bathtub scene (nothing revealed) in which she appears to be fantasizing about a romantic encounter with a young man on a picnic (nothing sexual is shown). Also, there is some violence during a protest that turns violent and when Hilary is force fed in prison during a hunger strike.
RATINGS - 103 Amazon (4.5/5), 2,096 IMDB (7.4/10), 114,612 Netflix (3.9/5).
STARRING - Hilary Swank, Anjelica Huston, Margo Martindale, Frances O'Connor.
AWARDS - Winner of Golden Globe Best Supporting Actress and nominated for 5 Emmys plus a number of other awards and nominations.
THEMES - Civil rights, women's rights, relationships, the Constitution.
STORY - This is an HBO movie about the final fight for women's voting rights. It probably helps to have had some background in the long battle for women's right to vote as this story picks it up in the final stages and takes it to the finish line. Others have said that it may try too hard not to be a period piece and that is probably a fair criticism as the characters may be a little more reflective of today than the early 1900's. Having said that, it has always taken people who have that radical toughness and obsession to break down barriers in society. Isn't it amazing that our Constitution that proclaimed 'all men are created equal....' took so long to make it really viable for half of our population, not to mention the battles for freedom from slavery and the subsequent struggle for voting rights of African-Americans. Our country was founded in revolution and struggle-both ideological and physical and that was the beginning as we have struggled to define 'all men' since then. This is a movie worth watching for the reminder of the hard fought (they literally experienced physical violence and wrongful imprisonment) rights that some in our society have had to battle for while others have been able to take for granted those same freedoms. This is the story of a sad chapter in our history and the women who paved the way for their daughters and granddaughters to have an equal (mostly) seat at the table. In a year where we had a woman almost achieve the nomination for President and a woman is on the ticket of the other party, this is a testimony to those who made it possible. Lu G. for Lu's Reviews. 10/25/2008.
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