"When men plan, God laughs… But I am not a man.”
Iron Jawed Angels (2004) is a movie of a group of courageous American women, the “Suffragists”, who fought for women’s suffrage during the pivotal point of American history – a difficult period during which President Woodrow Wilson had to lead America into World War I. The way it depicts determination, idealism, courage and honour was elegantly and meticulously feminime. Such a wonderful yet inspirational movie to watch.
The talented Ms. Hilary Swank played the determined Alice Paul, an idealist Quaker, who wore almost everytime a (sometime defiantly unmatching) pink hat with brooch and red fur decoration. That (ugly) hat became her trademark instead of her friend-in-struggle, Lucy Burns’ (played pleasantly by Frances O’Connor) on a flip of a coin prior to her first move to gain the leadership of the Congressional Committee of the National Association for Women’s Suffrage in America (NAWSA). Flipping a coin became an expression of how fate chooses their players, in this case, Alice Paul. Other fabulous casts include Julia Ormond as Inez Mulholland, Anjelica Huston as Carrie Catt.
There’s something in the beginning of the movie that drew my attention. It began with an instrumental version of “Everything You Want” by Vertical Horizon. (You can hear this song here in My "Rock My World" page --- http://springsun.multiply.com/music/item/1) Along with it were flashes of seemingly unconnected portraits. The song and images combined were indeed arresting. The melody moved gracefully in my head as these scenes flashed before me – of a brunette women swaying on a swing tight on a tree, in a farm, during autumn, with red yellow dried leaves falling down; of a hand jerking as it was strapped with leather belt on a silver chair; of a brunette child smiling while playing chess; of a brunette woman with bruises on her eyes and lips washing her face; of yellow stars floating on a clear blue sky.
Then the elegant story began in Philadephia, September 1912.
Who says beautiful women cannot be sharp and at the same time very political in rigorously fighting for their rights? The movie crafted delicately a charming depiction of beautiful but broke young lobbyists preparing them selves for battle. You would see how these women used red rose petals squashed with gel for lipstick and black burnt matches for eyeliners. Then off they went to a gala dinner filled with the riches and famouses, glidding amongst distinguished guests with dogged feminine eloquence in an attempt to raise funds.
The road was long and bumpy. Patriarchal resistence, government’s neglect and internal disputes between the younger and older women colored the movement. Though tough, it all went alright until the war came in 1917. And suddenly, the women’s suffrage movement became “unpatriotic” and several of them, including the daredevil Lucy Burns, were sent to jail. Alice followed afterwards and continued the struggle behind bars with a hunger strike. She and her friends had to endure forced feeding and physical abuses. The stone ice prison suddenly was melted by the Suffragists’ vehemence. The matron warden became a female agent of change from inside that somber prison as she provided Alice and Lucy with a range of communication means to the outside world. Through the matron and Senator Leighton (whose wife was also sent to jail), Alice was able to write her story of violence in jail.
Such brutal story stimulated public and media outcry against the Presidency. The women was released later and got the opportunity to have women’s suffrage discussed in the Congress with the support of President Wilson (who was desperately trying to free himself from burgeoning public opinion).
At the end of the long struggle, the illustration of their final victory was nothing more than brilliant and moving. In the Senate Congress, tension increased dramatically as showed by the expressions of (mostly) male Senators, each wearing either yellow rose (in support of women’s suffrage) or red rose (against women’s suffrage). Though initially discouraged by news of withering votes, the Suffragists eventually won enough votes in the Senate by an unprecedented event. It manifested in a surprise swing vote of a certain Senator Burns, who initially voted against, but then received a last minute telegram from his mother. Though nothing of that telegram was elaborated, we knew what it was in it when we saw a change in Senator Burns’ facial expression, when he ripped off his red rose and voted, “Aye”.
Women… wives… mothers… daughters… sisters… girlfriends… women… These roles intertwined humbly with political rights in this vivacious movie directed elegantly by Katja von Garnier. On August 26th, 1920, the 19th Amendment giving women the right to vote became constitutional law and the rest is history.
One particular personal favorite is Alice Paul’s love story with a Washington Post cartoonist, Ben Weissman. Since the beginning, she didn’t made any effort to cover her preference to her career. She blatantly showed a change of interest in him after she found out that he works in Washington Post. It amazes me to see that he was alright with that. He is supportive, handsome, within the same idealistic framework, fun, and a loving father. Every female activist’s dream? :o) Amen, sister.
The slight disappointment that I have of this movie is the rather minute efforts to highlight the racial issues in the movement. Well, one could say, at least one issue was raised when Alice met with a black woman representative. There was a request from the southern women group to have the black women march behind them instead of infront. There were no more stories of it (I assume the black women group refused to all join), but later on during the middle of march, the earlier black woman representative joined in the march.
All in all, I very very very much enjoyed Iron Jawed Angels because the movie removes the depreciatory stereotypes against woman activists. It is indeed such an inspiration in a sense to see how determination and political will can be oh-so gorgeous.
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Official website:
http://www.hbo.com/films/ironjawedangels/Another interesting site:
http://www.time.com/time/classroom/voting/index.html
