Ok I really suck at the doing new and exciting things, thing. I'm a bit of a scaredy-cat and I work too much, so that on my days off all I want to do is curl up on the sofa and eat lots of chocolate watching TV shows I've seen many times before.
This week, however, I did go to the cinema by myself! I love going to the cinema, especially with my mum (not only because she buys the tickets for me) and yet its a bit of a confusing notion as to why it is seen as such a social atmosphere. You literally sit in silence with some other people, and yet I think knowing that everyone else there is seeing and feeling what you're feeling makes it more exciting. Nevertheless, I wanted to go by myself, as it really shouldn't be a big deal.
I went to see the film 'Suffragette' with Carey Mulligan and Helena Bonham Carter. I'd heard some good reviews and I love Carey Mulligan already, and I remember loving studying the suffragette movement at school. This film does not disappoint.
*Spoilers ahead*
Maud Watts is a laundry worker in 1912, quiet and obedient, keeping her head down in all aspects of her life, when she gets caught up in a violent suffragette demonstration, recognising Violet Miller from her workplace, who the next day invites her to join them. Maud at first resists but ends up, almost accidentally, giving a statement at Parliament to David Lloyd George, the first time that she has given herself the chance to voice her own opinion. From there her seemingly accidental involvement snowballs, as she gets arrested for the reaction after women are denied a change to their voting rights, and when her husband, Sonny, bans her from further involvement, you see her independence grow. After Sonny kicks her out of their house after another arrest she becomes a pioneer in the movement, becoming involved with posting letter bombs and blowing up Lloyd George's summer house, rebelling against her supervisor after years of silently enduring his lechery, going through hunger strike in prison, and finally, attending the Derby with Emily Davison and witnessing her death, a famous event of the suffragette movement.
It is after this event that the film draws to a close, leaving me slightly lost as I was waiting for a true ending, but as I read in s review the following day, that is the entire point. There is no true ending to such a cause. Women may have eventually got the vote but their fight for complete equality still continues, as emphasised by the list of countries and when they granted women voting rights which scroll over the screen at the conclusion of the film. The ongoing fight is clear to see, as there are still countries yet to grant them (examples) and Saudi Arabia only made steps towards it this year.
Carey Mulligan is an amazing actress. Following such a famous story through her eyes gives an entirely new meaning to it. I remember studying the women's suffrage movement in history lessons at school, and I could probably still dredge up all the facts about it, but seeing it done in such a personal and heart wrenching way is amazing. A particular heart wrenching part is Maud's relationship with her son, her love for him st odds with her growing belief in the movements as her husband bans her from seeing him. When she manages to steal time with him the scenes are truly beautiful, their pure relationship shining through the screen, and a heart breaking scene is when Sonny reveals that he has put their son, Georgie, up for adoption, and Maud realises how much she is fighting for, as her lack of rights means she cannot fight this. As she screams and curses Sonny there is a moment where they almost come back together, overwhelmed with grief, but Maud breaks away, and you don't see Sonny again, showing that she knows completely she cannot go back to any part of her old life.
Another heart breaking scene that was actually really really hard to watch was Maud getting force fed to end her hunger strike in prison, by a tube in her nose. I think a reason that this is so hard to watch is that this actually happened to these women. As they tried to fight for what they believed in, people reduced their efforts by taking away even more of their rights, putting a tube in their nose and forcing them to receive food. The scene made me feel a little bit sick, but it was so important.
A part of this film that needs to be especially mentioned is the cinematography, done by Edu Grau. A particular moment I noticed it was when Maud and some other women are running from the police, and the way they have worked the camera makes you feel as if you are running with them. It shakes and bumps along with them and it feels so beautifully raw and real, it is not a film that shys away from showing the pain. The way they have orchestrated this film by following Maud into the movement, increases the audience's sense of involvement in the story. Maud begins the story never having really considered that women would ever get the vote, and not allowing herself to think about what the right would do for her, and the film shows her enlightenment into seeing the possibility and believing it.
It is easy to feel, living in England in 2015, that the suffragette movement is far away from us, but this film reminds us why it was a real battle, and why it is still going, and Maud's personal journey can be mirrored in many women and girls in the present that have never considered what feminism can do for them. But just like Maud, we don't always have to just keep our heads down and endure.
A final thing worth mentioning about this film is the sheer number of women involved in the making of it. Obviously the actresses themselves are amazing in what they do, but this is a film written by, directed by and produced by women, and that is an amazing thing to see!
I've never written a film review before so I hope this was OK! I feel there is probably so much more I could write about, but isn't that always the way, there's always more to be said or done, it's just knowing where to stop for now.
