History through Hollywood. Here we get the story of Alice Paul and Lucy Burns around the time of WWI. Never heard of them? Me neither. I always associated womens suffrage with Susan B. Anthony and Cady Stanton. But these two famous suffragists worked 50 years earlier during the civil war time, and were also heavily involved in the anti-slavery movement. The 19th Amendment didn't get ratified until 1920, and this film gives the story of the fight. Alice Paul is the charismatic leader and eventually turns the tide by picketing the White House (i.e. Woodrow Wilson) during the war, getting sent to prison (along with a hundred other women) and enacting a hunger strike. All this prompts Wilson to introduce the amendment as a war measure. Rather informative and well produced. My only complaint with the film is the soundtrack. Placing modern, pop music in a soundtrack for a film set in the second decade of the 1900's is a juxtaposition I couldn't quite get comfortable with.
3-stars (out of 5)
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