Iron Jawed Angels
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| Iron Jawed Angels (aka The Inquisitive Woman) | |
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 DVD cover |
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| Directed by | Katja von Garnier |
| Produced by | Len Amato Lydia Dean Pilcher Robin Forman Paula Weinstein |
| Written by | Sally Robinson Eugenia Bostwick-Singer Raymond Singer Jennifer Friedes |
| Starring | Hilary Swank Anjelica Huston Frances O'Connor |
| Music by | Reinhold Heil Johnny Klimek |
| Cinematography | Robbie Greenberg |
| Editing by | Hans Funck |
| Distributed by | HBO Films |
| Release date(s) | February 15, 2004 January 16, 2004 (Sundance Film Festival) |
| Running time | TV 123 min. Cinema 125 min. |
| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
Iron Jawed Angels is a 2004 film about the American women's suffrage movement during the 1910s. It was filmed in Virginia, produced by HBO Films, and released in 2004. It received a standing ovation at the Sundance Film Festival, [1]
The film, directed by Katja von Garnier, follows political activists Alice Paul and Lucy Burns as they use peaceful and effective strategies, tactics, and dialogues to revolutionize the American feminist movement to grant women the right to vote.
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[edit] Plot
The film begins as Alice Paul (Hilary Swank) and Lucy Burns (Frances O'Connor) return to the United States from England where they have been actively involved in the suffrage movement. As the duo becomes more active within the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA), they begin to realize that their ideas were much too radical for the established activists, particularly Carrie Chapman Catt (Anjelica Huston). Both women eventually leave NAWSA and create the National Woman's Party (NWP), a much more radical organization dedicated to the fight for women's rights.
Over time, tension between the NWP and NAWSA grows as NAWSA leaders criticize NWP tactics such as direct protesting of a wartime President and picketing directly outside the White House with their Silent Sentinels. Relations between the American government and the NWP protesters also intensify, as hundreds of women are arrested for their actions, though the official charge is "obstructing traffic." They are sent to Occoquan Workhouse for 60-day terms where they suffer poor conditions. During this time, Paul and other women undergo a hunger strike during which prison authorities force feed them milk and raw eggs through a tube. News of their treatment leaks to the media through the husband of one of the imprisoned women who had been able to lobby for a visit (the suffragists are depicted as otherwise unable to see visitors or lawyers). The media dubs these women 'Iron Jawed Angels.' Pressure is put on President Wilson as NAWSA seizes the opportunity to lobby tirelessly for the nineteenth amendment to the Constitution.
Paul, Burns and all of the other women are eventually pardoned by President Wilson. The Supreme Court rules that their arrests were, in fact, unconstitutional.hhhh
[edit] Cast
- Hilary Swank as Alice Paul
- Frances O'Connor as Lucy Burns
- Molly Parker as Emily Leighton (fictional character; a senator's wife)[2]
- Laura Fraser as Doris Stevens
- Lois Smith as Rev. Dr. Anna Howard Shaw
- Vera Farmiga as Ruza Wenclawska, also known as Rose Winslow
- Brooke Smith as Mabel Vernon
- Patrick Dempsey as Ben Weissman (fictional character)[3]
- Julia Ormond as Inez Milholland
- Anjelica Huston as Carrie Chapman Catt
[edit] References
- ^ Interview with Paul Fischer at the Sundance Film Festival in 2004.[1]
- ^ Elizabeth Skipper.Review of Iron-Jawed Angels, DVD Verdict, November 1, 2004: I also noticed Molly Parker (Deadwood) as the supporting character of Emily Leighton, a Senator's wife. Parker's character—a fabricated figure, we learn from the commentary ... .
- ^ DVD Verdict: "In this movie, Alice is given a fledgling romance with political cartoonist Ben Weissman ... . According to the audio commentary, he is another completely fictional character, created to give Alice a (sort of) love interest. ... Admittedly, I am pleased that Ben remained such a minor character. Any other movie would have made him the focus, and would have brought the couple together at the end to show that passion for a cause does not have to supersede passion for a man. Now that I know Ben never existed, though, his presence seems unnecessary. Why should a story about women's fight for equality need a man at all?"
[edit] External links
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