The protagonist, played by Carey Mulligan, is a young working class woman who does not like to be classified as a Suffragette, but when her husband predictably throws her out she takes up the cause wholeheartedly. Both Carey Mulligan and Helena Bonham Carter are excellent. Meryl Streep gets a brief moment in the spotlight as activist Emmeline Pankhurst. Her screen time is very brief, emphasizing to the audience that the groundwork done by average women was of utmost importance to the cause. Pankhurst served as inspiration, but the people had to act on their own--change is effected from the grassroots. Their method is militancy, and yet the audience is made to sympathize with the suffragettes who are thwarted by the patriarchal society of Great Britain.
The camerawork is very unsettling throughout the movie. Much like any effective activism, it is in-your-face. The camera is so close to Carey Mulligan's face, that the viewers are quite uncomfortable. But you should feel uncomfortable, because in order to upend the status quo, we cannot be satisfied with comfort. The cinematography understands this and does not let the audience forget it. The end of the film has a fade to white, followed by real, powerful archival footage from 1913, which is pretty incredible in and of itself.
I got to see an advanced screening of this movie at The Charles Theater by the Gender Studies Department at JHU!
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