IRON JAWED ANGELS MOVIE REVİEW

Directed by Katja von Garnier
Year and Place of Production: 2004, USA
Stars: Hilary Swank, Frances O’Connor, Anjelica Huston, Molly Parker
Subject: The film focuses on the demand for women’s suffrage in the United States and the events that have developed in the process that has enabled this demand to come to life.

Alice Paul and Lucy Burns are two young women in England who worked hard to get the natural rights of women who took part in the Pankhurst Disobedience movement. They come to America from England and continue their struggle here. In 1912, when Alice was a student in America, she joined the American National Women’s Suffrage Association (NAWSA). The women in this union are supporters of the process of carrying out the struggle for suffrage on a state-by-state basis, slowly and in obedience to the authority of the state, but they were not aware of this; the state controlled them and their actions and constantly distracted them with postponed promises. Carrie Chapman, the president of this society, thought that the constitutional amendment that Alice wanted was an excessive and discredited approach. They did not approve of the way the Pankhursts in England claimed rights.
Alice and Lucy had decided to take a walk. They have been working for this march for many days; to raise people for the union, to find funds, to organize, to raise awareness of women, to rally the union… for this they are getting close to journalists, trying to contact politicians. In fact, there is an emotional rapprochement between this journalist and Alice later in the film, but Alice is so attached to the constitutional amendment case that she is closed to anything that will distract her attention from it dec
The views of other women in NAWSA on the method and the state are different from Alice Paul’s, and this process is now becoming exhausting for Paul and his like-minded people, whereupon the National Women’s Party (NWP) is formed.As a result, on March 3, 1913, women organize and hold the first and largest march. During this walk, women are verbally and physically abused or even attacked by men. Many women are injured, and president Woodrow Wilson ignores this. The police also do not interfere with the fact that women are attacked during the march. The President never raises women’s demands, even makes it clear that this will not be the case at the moment, so the women decide to plan actions. in 1917, they would start a long strike, which would last for 8 months. Alternately, in front of the White House, they said, “Mr. President, how much longer do women have to wait for freedom? They start waiting with a banner that says “. Women are not giving up the strike despite the non-supportive media, men and women who despise their movements, politicians who look negatively, extremely difficult weather conditions. On top of that, women who are on strike for “blocking traffic” are being arrested. There are women who are detained and they are told that they can come out with 10 dollars atonement, but the women are so determined that they won’t do it because paying atonement will mean admitting the crime, and the 60-day prison processes begin. Here, policemen intensively verbally and physically abuse and use violence against women. While the situation is getting more tense, Emily Leighton (her husband is a democratic senator, she has been helping the union since she was aware of the movement) is blocked by her husband when it is realized that she is helping the union, despite this, she does not give up on the movement. He does not give up his luxurious life at the cost of losing his beloved and loving wife and children.) he also happens to be one of the participants in the strike. The women’s detentions continue and they decide to go on a hunger strike. In this process, besides psychological pressure, women are also force-fed. During this forced feeding, many injuries occur. In the film we see that there are numerous human rights violations in the prison process. Inability to hire a lawyer, torture, lack of the right to meet with relatives, mental ill-health treatment are just some of them. Alice’s note to her friends is leaking out. A lot of news is being made, and the media is now starting to take a place next to women, awareness is starting to be created in society. On top of that, women are being released. The voice of women is beginning to be heard by other segments of society, and social interest in the demands for suffrage is growing.
In August 1920, the struggle for suffrage became so mass that it could not be ignored, the attitude of women in the NAWSA changed. On August 26, 1920, an amendment to the constitution was made granting women the right to vote. The United States Court of Appeals has declared that 218 arrests made due to a constitutional amendment request are unconstitutional.