Film ReviewsShe's Beautiful When She's Angry: feminism for all
Feb 13, 2015 Anchorage Press
|
|
She's Beautiful When She's Angry, a new film by award-winning director and producer Mary Dore, is essential to understanding the political and social relationship of women to society in American history. This feature length documentary covers a lot of ground in a remarkably focused way and at a satisfying pace. It uses old footage and interviews to juxtapose the emerging women's movement of the 1960s and '70s to the current state of affairs. Dore's expertise makes it possible for the documentary to present the thoughts and contributions of over 30 women who became the activists of their time and propelled opportunities for women all over the world. The images and footage work well with the interviews, and accompanying the history is a soundtrack that ties generations together, from Aretha Franklin and the Velvet Underground to Cat Power.
The impacts of the feminist movement are still unraveling, and young women today continue to benefit and add to those impacts as they individuate, blog, protest, and redefine feminism for themselves. But the history of the feminist movement has until now received very little in the way of comprehensive documentary treatment.
Dore worked on She's Beautiful When She's Angry for more than two decades, through starts and stops as funding ebbed and flowed, and through a Kickstarter campaign that gained more supporters for the project and helped it to be realized. The result of all that work is a documentary that is well balanced and makes connections between different groups in the complex evolution of civil rights in the US. The documentary provides a primer of sorts that helps viewers of all ages and genders to learn about their history. As evidenced by She's Beautiful When She's Angry, feminism is not only about women, it's about everyone, gay, straight, children, daughters, sons, mothers, fathers, and all races. The documentary is does not shy away from addressing the multiplicity of issues that oppress women, and addresses aspects of the movement that went awry. She's Beautiful When She's Angry exposes misogyny and misandry (hatred of men or boys) alike. The film provides viewers, especially younger ones, with a compelling look at the history of race relations, the forced sterilization of minority women, the struggle for reproductive justice and much more.
As She's Beautiful When She's Angry tells the story of suffrage and feminism, the reality becomes apparent that as much as things have changed, many oppressive aspects remain the same for women today. As Roe v. Wade attorney Virgina Whitehill says at the opening of She's Beautiful When She's Angry, "You're not allowed to retire from women's issues, you still have to pay attention because somebody's going to try to yank the rug from under you and that's what's happening now."
She's Beautiful When She's Angry will be shown at the Bear Tooth Theatrepub on Mon., Feb. 16, at 5:30 p.m.
The impacts of the feminist movement are still unraveling, and young women today continue to benefit and add to those impacts as they individuate, blog, protest, and redefine feminism for themselves. But the history of the feminist movement has until now received very little in the way of comprehensive documentary treatment.
Dore worked on She's Beautiful When She's Angry for more than two decades, through starts and stops as funding ebbed and flowed, and through a Kickstarter campaign that gained more supporters for the project and helped it to be realized. The result of all that work is a documentary that is well balanced and makes connections between different groups in the complex evolution of civil rights in the US. The documentary provides a primer of sorts that helps viewers of all ages and genders to learn about their history. As evidenced by She's Beautiful When She's Angry, feminism is not only about women, it's about everyone, gay, straight, children, daughters, sons, mothers, fathers, and all races. The documentary is does not shy away from addressing the multiplicity of issues that oppress women, and addresses aspects of the movement that went awry. She's Beautiful When She's Angry exposes misogyny and misandry (hatred of men or boys) alike. The film provides viewers, especially younger ones, with a compelling look at the history of race relations, the forced sterilization of minority women, the struggle for reproductive justice and much more.
As She's Beautiful When She's Angry tells the story of suffrage and feminism, the reality becomes apparent that as much as things have changed, many oppressive aspects remain the same for women today. As Roe v. Wade attorney Virgina Whitehill says at the opening of She's Beautiful When She's Angry, "You're not allowed to retire from women's issues, you still have to pay attention because somebody's going to try to yank the rug from under you and that's what's happening now."
She's Beautiful When She's Angry will be shown at the Bear Tooth Theatrepub on Mon., Feb. 16, at 5:30 p.m.