If I was to have guessed what would be the film released this year that would be subject to a strident campaign against it, I would not have chosen Suffragette. Yet this film, depicting events that happened over a hundred years ago has had more Internet based hatred aimed at it then any other in recent times. You can just look at the campaign on IMDB to mark this film down, and the bizarre rantings that appear on the message board of the movie, mostly posted by men who are happy to admit that they haven’t seen the film.
I guess that the film makers will be secretly pleased with the response as it shows this movie to be more than just a period piece, and it is delivering a message that is relevant today. You can argue either way whether the violent tactics adopted by the suffragette were justified or even effective, but their cause was, or so I thought, one that every right thinking person would have agreed with.
Getting that out-of-the-way, I ask the more important question: ‘is the film any good?’ With a tight, cohesive story from Abi Morgan, and un-fussy direction from Sarah Gavron, I think it is. Carey Mulligan stars as launderette worker Maud Watts (a fictional, composite, character) who is initially not particularly interested in the women’s’ rights movement, but gets drawn into it in a totally believable way. Mulligan is exceptional in the role, and is well supported by Anne-Marie Duff, Helena Bonham-Carter, and Natalie Press as fellow activists.
What is particularly impressive are the male characters in the film. Sure there are some out-and-out villains like the launderette owner Norman Taylor (Geoff Bell) but others are more conflicted and three-dimensional. Ben Whishaw as Maud’s husband Sonny struggles to come to terms with his wife’s choices, and Brendan Gleeson is particularly good as the policeman in charge of the team trying to catch the women who clearly has some understanding of the cause.
This is a terrific film that deserves to be seen and not just dismissed as feminist propaganda.
Rating: 8.5 out of 10