Feminist Tendencies
Feminism as a concept has gone in and out of vogue since the first suffragette demanded the right to vote, but throughout history there have always been remarkable women, prepared to claim their power in the name of a cause ('Ride to Freedom: The Rosa Parks Story', 'Veronica Guerin'), or just to rediscover their own self-worth ('Shirley Valentine', 'My Brilliant Career'). This collection does not only contain films about the political struggle of women to achieve equality ('Iron Jawed Angels'), if it did it would be a very short list because despite the fact that the rise of women in the workforce and in politics was one of the defining movements of the 20th century, very few films have been made on the subject - filmmaking being still a largely male-dominated pusuit. Now, as women are making films in greater numbers than ever, our own Niki Caro is a good example of someone ready and willing to tell a story about the oppression, and ultimate triumph of women in the 'post-feminist' 1980s ('North Country'). Perhaps women as an audience are now ready and willing to hear their own stories.
Raw Deal: A Question of Consent (2001)
7.4/10
Director: Billy Corben
Do you know rape when you see it? Audiences have come to expect video footage to tell the truth, to shine a light on "what really happened". Exotic da... Read more
RBG (2018)
7.2/10
Director: Julie Cohen, Betsy West
At the age of 84, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has developed a breathtaking legal legacy while becoming an unexpected pop culture ic... Read more
Rosenstrasse (2003)
6.8/10
Director: Margarethe von Trotta
Starring: Katja Riemann, Maria Schrader, Martin Feifel, Jurgen Vogel, Jutta Lampe
Drawing on the true events of Spring 1943 when hundreds of German women protested the incarceration of their Jewish husbands in the Jewish Welfare Off... Read more
Saving Face (2004)
7.5/10
Director: Alice Wu
Starring: Lynn Chen, Joan Chen, Michelle Krusiec
Wilhelmina Pang (Michelle Krusiec) is a surgeon living in Manhattan whose mother (Joan Chen) is eager for her to settle down with a nice man and get m... Read more
Shirley Valentine (1989)
7.2/10
Director: Lewis Gilbert
Starring: Pauline Collins, Tom Conti, Alison Steadman
A gem of a film about a witty housewife, bored with the hum-drum routine of suburban life, who jumps at the chance to rediscover herself when she join... Read more
Silkwood (1983)
7.2/10
Director: Mike Nichols
Starring: Meryl Streep, Kurt Russell, Cher , Craig T Nelson
Meryl Streep plays Karen Silkwood in this true account of the mysterious circumstances under which Silkwood died while exposing the dangers of Plutoni... Read more
Sophie Scholl - The Final Days (2005)
7.6/10
Director: Marc Rothemund
Starring: Julia Jentsch, Fabian Hinrichs, Gerald Alexander Held, Johanna Gastdorf, Andre H...
Julia Jentsch puts in a masterful performance as one of Germany's most famous anti-Nazi resistance heroes. Arrested by the gestapo in 1943 for her pa... Read more
Sophie's Choice (1982)
7.7/10
Director: Alan J Pakula
Starring: Meryl Streep, Kevin Kline, Peter MacNicol
Meryl Streep deservedly received an Oscar for her depiction of a Polish Catholic mother who survives the death camp at Auschwitz, but not the memories... Read more
Spider and Rose (1994)
Director: Bill Bennett
Starring: Ruth Cracknell, Simon Bossell, Max Cullen
Spider McCall (Simon Bossell) is an ambulance driver with 'attitude'. His final day on the job lands him the assignment of driving a feisty 70-year-ol... Read more
Steel Magnolias (1989)
7.2/10
Director: Herbert Ross
Starring: Dolly Parton, Sally Field, Sam Shepard, Shirley MacLaine
Adapted from the acclaimed stage play about a group of 'Strong Women' or 'Steel Magnolias' in a small southern town. The magnificent cast includes Shi... Read more