MovieChat Forums > Iron Jawed Angels (2004) Discussion > what do you like about it?

what do you like about it?

posted 8 years ago by juliancgeorge
1 reply | jump to latest

I watched this in history and I got the impression that the creators had no idea what they were doing and just used techniques without any understanding of how they're supposed to be used. The acting was great but the portrayal of some of the characters annoyed me. It seemed like we were supposed to hate Woodrow Wilson and NAWSA simply because they opposed Alice Paul, and Alice Paul wasn't even likable. It seemed like the creators wanted Alice to be a headstrong, "gets what she wants" kind of revolutionary but she came across as annoying. There's also some moments that are just bafflingly stupid. Why the hell did Alice Paul need to break the window in the workhouse?? If she wanted to seem calm and portray women better she wouldn't have vandalized a prison because of a perfectly reasonable rule against opening the window. The final thing that bugged me was the ****ing music. Who thought that the modern music they put in fit even slightly? Everything besides the music and editing was acceptable, but the goddamn creative choices were awful. The fast-paced editing works great when it creates suspense or exaggerate humor, but it's used prevalently in the exposition and in calm scenes where it really shouldn't be. The same issue goes with the music. The editing and music styles are very modern and took me out of the movie.

TLDR: the creators didn't understand cinematic techniques, editing and music were too fast paced

try to convince me to like the movie because it got good critical reception and I don't understand why

[–] pioneergrrrl (2389) 10 months ago

didn't care for the modern music or the bathtub scene

Thought the overall idea of Alice and the suffragettes having male allies (even if the identity was invented) was interesting. Even schoolhouse rock had pretended that this was only a women's issue and men did not also share interest.

I liked how Alice and Lucy even though they did have college (very rare for women back then) still had to learn from the 'uneducated' factory workers. I am college educated but I am also of eastern European ancestry. I felt I was watching a conversation with two of my ancestors.

The prison matron who privately passes notes is interesting. She comes to realize what they are doing....which is accurate according to the books I've read. Some of the matrons did help pass notes.