Today marks the 165th anniversary of the Seneca Falls Convention, held on July 19-20, 1848. If you’ve never heard of this convention…well, it’s not surprising. It was the among the first (and the first organized by Western women) gatherings of women (and a few men, including Frederick Douglass) for Women’s Rights.
It was organized around a speech given by Lucretia Mott, an outspoken Quaker woman…quite a rarity at the time. She wrote up the influential Declaration Of Sentiments, which became a bigger deal when the Suffrage Movement started a few decades later.
In light of recent events centering around Women’s Rights, I thought it would be a good time to talk about some of the best films I’ve seen with strong female characters.
OSAMA (2003)
Written and directed by Siddiq Barmak
When this film played Telluride in 2003, many people thought that it was going to be about the devil himself, Osama bin Laden. But if you had been banned from making movies for decades, would you waste your first film on that dude?
Instead, Siddiq Barmak chose to make a movie about the bigger devil. The Taliban had fallen, but it’s shadow was still over the country and will be for a long, long time. In Osama, Barmak tells the story of three generations of women. The older two (a middle-aged woman and her mother) have lost their husbands to various wars. Women are not allowed to work under the regime. What to do? The 12 year old reluctantly cuts her hair and masquerades as a boy in order to support the family knowing that, if she’s caught, she’ll be killed.
Unfortunately, she is a boy when the Taliban calls up all boys to go to school and learn military training.
This is not one of those movies that you watch when you’re depressed. It will NOT bring you up. It’s a relentlessly tragic and angry film with an amazing central performance from young Marina Golbahari who Barmak discovered on the streets of Kabul. She’s gone on to a few other movies that I haven’t seen, but I’m interested to see what she’s been up to for the last ten years.
PERSEPOLIS (2007)
Directed by Vincent Paronnaud/Marjane Satrapi
Written by Vincent Parounnaud
Based on graphic novels by Marjane Satrapi
I know I’ve written about this one before, but it bears repeating. Persepolis is just that good. An animated film based on the true story of Marjane Satrapi that she had put down in two volumes of graphic novel, Persepolis is about her struggle as a young woman growing up in Iran. When the Shah is overthrown, the people of Iran rejoice that they will be able to govern their own country.
Unfortunately, the new government is even more repressive, and Marji (voiced by Chiara Mastroianni) tells everyone exactly what she thinks. She’s not going to be another silenced woman in the Iranian regime.
That’s when she gets sent to Vienna to get her degree, mostly for her safety. But there are all kinds of hardships there, too.
Persepolis, just like Osama, is a great look into a world that we in the West have no real clue about.
There’s more hope and humor in Persepolis than Osama, but the story is very similar and the danger of both is very real.
THE CONTENDER (2000)
Written and directed by Rod Lurie
When the Vice-President is killed, it’s time to get a new one. The lead contender is Laine Hanson (Joan Allen), but there’s a long process that goes into choosing a new VP. And when you have someone like Shelly Runyon (Gary Oldman) probing your background, it’s going to take even longer, because he is going to find EVERYTHING. When a tales of sexual deviancy show up that may or may not be about Laine, all bets are off. The conservative Runyon takes the bait and runs with it, doing everything in his power to ruin Hanson.
Hanson, to her credit, keeps her composure. She’s conflicted, though. Should she fight Runyon and his crew of right-wingnuts? Or should she refuse to comment on something that really has nothing to do with the office that she’s fighting for?
Joan Allen is amazing throughout the film, whether she’s being attacked by Runyon, confused by the President (a very Dude-like Jeff Bridges) and his shark sandwiches or marveling at Sam Elliott’s clean-shaven face. (By the way, his character’s name is Kermit…and the name fits him without that giant mustache.)
The Contender has kind of been forgotten lately, and that’s unfortunate. It’s a great movie that shows us just how far some people will go to keep women out of high offices.
NIGHT OF THE HUNTER (1955)
Directed by Charles Laughton
Written by James Agee/Charles Laughton (uncredited)
Based on a novel by Davis Grubb
This one goes a bit out of the way since the female character isn’t the lead, but that’s fine.
Everyone remembers Robert Mitchum’s weird and wild performance as a money obsessed preacher with “LOVE” and “HATE” tattooed on his fists.
And that’s as it should be because the man is frightening, impulsive and amazing. But there’s an equally great performance that many people forget about. No, it’s not Shelley Winters as the weak-willed mother of the children who are running away from Mitchum.
No, I’m talking about silent-movie legend Lillian Gish’s turn as Rachel Cooper, a small-town woman who takes the children (and, in fact, all children) in and protects them from the preacher. She’s his exact opposite. He uses the Bible to strike fear in the hearts of everyone he meets; she uses it to light the flames of love. He sees lambs as something to slaughter; she sees them as something to protect.
I love this movie. It’s strange, crazy, scary and damn-near perfect. Robert Mitchum gives the performance of a lifetime and helps to make the movie memorable, but Lillian Gish gives it its moral center.
THE PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC (1928)
Directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer
Written by Carl Theodor Dreyer/Joseph Delteil
Often considered one of the best films of its time, Dreyer’s film does not disappoint. Stylistic in the extreme, The Passion Of Joan Of Arc is beautiful, terrifying and in possession of one of the strongest female characters not just in film, but in history. Maria Falconetti never made another film after this, but her performance as Joan d’Arc is typically on every list of greatest performances, sometimes even topping the list. The desolation of Joan’s tragic life permeates every frame. Her strongly held beliefs that keep her from confessing her “sins” are held on her face. The entire revolution is written in her eyes.
See this movie whether you like silent films or not. It might just change your mind. It will definitely make you wish that Falconetti had made more films. (Her life, unfortunately, is pretty tragic, also. She quit movies and went back to theatre, dumping all of her money into a failed theatre of her own. She fled Europe, and died in Argentina while on a crash diet to lose all of the weight she had gained, basically penniless.)
Check out the entire film below.
AND ONE TO HATE ON…
SUCKER PUNCH (2011)
Directed by Zack Snyder
Written by Zack Snyder/Steve Shibuya
I like Zack Snyder. Really, I do. His movies tend to be big, fun and not too terribly stupid. He tried to get serious with Watchmen and it mostly worked for me. I even liked Legend Of The Guardians. I think he’s finally made a near masterpiece with Man Of Steel.
BUT…there’s always Sucker Punch.
He’s tried like hell to defend this movie as actually being feminist. I do not think he knows what that word means. First off, all of his “heroic women” are wearing tiny skirts and knee-high socks. That’s a male fetish, not something that really works in battle. I mean, I’m a dude, so I like it, but it’s a bit silly. Second, and most importantly, the movie is about women in an insane asylum. To “escape,” they dream of being…sex slaves in a mafia run strip club?
Nope. Not buying’ it. Go to any woman in the world and that will not be their dream during a bad situation.
The music videos that interject themselves into the movie, on the other hand, are very well made and fairly exciting. If the movie had just been those it still would have been a guy’s dream, but I think it would have been excusable. As it is, it’s among the most sexist movies ever made…and terrible, at that.
Without those music videos – boring, boring, boring.
