Period films dealing with social justice cut both ways: on the one hand, 12 Years a Slave reminds us of the cruelties of antebellum America and why people should never regress to living in such a way. On the other, it allows us the breath with which to sigh, “Whew, glad those days are gone.” The problem with this second part is: We might be too inclined to pat ourselves on the back in congratulations – and not get those hands to work fixing today’s lasting issues around race and, say, gender discrimination.
So it is with Suffragette, the new period-drama about how women got the vote in England – sort of. But more on that later.
In the slums of early 20^th century London, we meet Maud Watts (played by Carey Mulligan), a timid laundry cleaner who gets in with the radical feminist crowd and finds the strength inside herself to push for suffrage (the right to vote).
Sadly but necessarily, she loses her family in a fight that goes from the London streets to a women’s prison to Parliament: Ben Whishaw plays Maud’s put-upon husband who, in a manner that doubtlessly conforms to the reality of some men then, conserves the idea that a women’s place in society is passive, and throws Maud out of their dingy, cramped home for upturning that idea. Their young son also gets frightfully caught up in the war of ideals between Mom and Dad, showing the lengths to which Maud will go for much deserved liberty.
So, I’m taking a class on women and politics, and you should, too. The thing with English feminists is that they were known for their militant methods. Here in Suffragette, bricks smash storefront windows. Explosions rip estate walls. It’s all a bit James Bond, but cooler. And a tad less sexist.
To wit: French composer Alexandre Desplat’s score cries “Onward!” and propels the plot just as deftly as the movie’s actors and the Englishwomen on whom this story is based. Listening here, I can’t help but remember Desplat’s score from Benjamin Button (2008) – a welcome pulse that set the pace for an almost three-hour epic.
And then there are the comparisons you can draw between Suffragette and Iron Jawed Angels (2004), a film on women’s suffrage across the Atlantic in the United States set around the same time. There’s even a line in Angels about why American feminists shouldn’t look to their English counterparts for inspiration, because their ways were seen as too extreme.
Yet this recent adaptation does stray from Angels in a sickening regard – that is, there are no feminists of color in the entire film. In the 2004 movie, we got to see famous African-American journalist Ida B. Wells march for women’s rights. Columnist Rebecca Carroll has already ripped into the contemporary British film for this, and rightly so.
Now, the reason I said “sort of” at the top is because at the close of Suffragette, a graphic on countries where women have the vote plays across screen and includes a fairly new member, Saudi Arabia. Although this brought current day to the film, it still wasn’t enough.
Here’s what I propose: By all means, keep rolling out the period movies. But let’s ask that the film industry give us more high-production movies about issues that continue on today. Take the still discriminatory gender wage gap. Or the #BlackLivesMatter movement.
We should see dramatic portrayals of these stories played out as they continue to unfold, and dig deeper into them right now.
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Jonathan Bach is the Editor-in-Chief of Ethos Magazine.
 
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