Suffragette Movie Review – Exceeded Expectations

Suffragette Movie Review– A Woman’s Review

I was invited to attend a special screening in New York of the new movie Suffragette. This Suffragette movie review is my personal feelings about the film.

While I was in New York, I had the opportunity to screen and then interview the ladies behind the movie. I didn’t know what to expect. I thought the movie was going to be all about female power, equality, equal pay, and women empowerment. I thought there would be a political agenda behind the film. I had read that during one of their Red Carpets in London there were protesters laying down on the Red Carpet protesting.

So then what was Suffragette about? Like the previews in took the stories from those women back in 1912, who did everything in their power to change the law, so that they would be given the right to vote. The move does an amazing job at telling a story back in time, so that us in modern time can understand what these women went through. How has it been 100 years and this be the very first movie about these women?

In the beginning of the movie, the narrator says, “If we allow women to vote it would be the last of social structure.” The movie shows the how these women started vandalizing and breaking the law so that they can be heard. It took the working class women of the time and told the story about how bad their lives were. How they were treated by employers as second-class citizens. The movie did have violence, sexual content, and language.

Mrs. Emmeline Pankhurst (played by Meryl Streep) protests, “if you want me to respect the law, make the law respectful.” She also mentions that it is our “deeds not words” that show what we stand for.

Mrs. Maud Watts (played by Carey Mulligan) did an amazing job playing the part of the main character. There were many emotional parts of this film that are definitely heart wrenching. It was Mulligan who did the amazing job at letting us have empathy on the trials and struggles that her character faced. The hardest part to watch, wasn’t seeing all of the suffering these women had to go through for the fight, but watching how that affected their families. As a mother, I couldn’t imagine my kids being owned only by my husband and having him put them up for adoption because of the pain he felt and how society molded him into believing that he had more rights than his wife.

Suffragette is a must see movie and I found it very educational. It definitely exceeded my expectations! The movie does market to “never give up the fight”. To this day there are still women in other countries who have not been given their equalities that they should have. I wish that when I was in school, I would have learned more of the history behind the suffrage movement. I am grateful and feel moved after seeing this film. I am grateful for the writers and directors to tell such a heart wrenching and true story of faith and equality. I am moved to understand that the fight isn’t over and when I look at the entire world, I see tons of women who still aren’t treated fairly.

I encourage you to go and see this movie. It will play in theaters in your city soon!  This movie plays in select cities THIS FRIDAY!