Delayed Reaction: Suffragette

The Pitch: The story of the Suffragette movement in London.

I could say that I was motivated to see this movie because I was inspired by something like the Women's March* or some other response to a political issue of our time. However, that would be a lie. I saw this because I like Carey Mulligan, and it also promised me Helena Bohnam Carter and Meryl Streep. It could've been about anything and I'd've watched it. That said, it was nice to get a glimpse into the suffrage movement. It's baffling to me to think that women (or minorities) weren't allowed to vote, less than a century ago all over the world (and several places currently). People actually argued that women shouldn't vote because their fathers/husbands/sons already had their best interest in mind. Poppycocks!

*This is my obligatory reminder that I have these Delayed Reactions in the can for a while, so it's a least a month or two between when I see a movie and when I post about it. Sorry. Turning these things around day-off is way more stressful than I can deal with. Besides, these are delayed reactions, so I'm kind of making a point.

Carey Mulligan is as good as the character can be. I don't think the beats of her transformation are earned in the story. Mulligan makes them seem as authentic as she can. Helea Bohnam Carter has a nice and lived-in role. I remember being surprised when Meryl Streep failed to get an Oscar nomination for this movie last year, because it looked like low hanging fruit (Meryl + period piece + political issue = Oscar). Having seen how little she's in it, I get the "snub" now. I like that some of the men are given a measure of conflict about what's going on with the suffrage movement. Ben Whishaw is a jerk, but it's partly because he's unable to process the change he's seeing in his wife. It's not that he simply dumps her because she thinks women should be able to vote. Brendan Gleeson is the classic "I'm just doing my job" kind of villain.

The movie is more of a survey than a deep dive. Mulligan's character reminds me of Mark Wahlberg's in Patriot's Days. She's always in the right place at the right time. She's in the center of it all so that there's a POV character for the events. It all fells like a checklist though: the early protests, the secret rally with Emmeline Pankhurst, the hunger strike in jail, blowing up mailboxes. Given my lack of knowledge about the suffrage movement, every chapter of the film seemed like it was saying "That's a taste of what happened. Now, look it up on Wikipedia for the real story".

Verdict (?): Weakly Recommend