10 Movies to Celebrate Women’s History Month
March is Women’s History Month! In order to celebrate all the fine females from the past, I put together a list of my top 10 movies to watch for a historical perspective and entertainment.
1. The Young Victoria:
This film focuses on the early years of Queen Victoria’s (Emily Blunt) reign, who was crowned at the age of 18. She ruled one of the largest empires in the world and remained in power most of the 19th century. Queen Victoria’s rule established propriety and middle class values.
2. Elizabeth:
This monumental, historical drama shows the rise of young Elizabeth (Cate Blanchett) to Queen of England. Her rule falls under a troubled time for the country. Elizabeth has to face issues of England’s bankruptcy, weakened army, constant threat from abroad, and religious wars among her people.
3. The Iron Lady:
This movie portrays the life of Margaret Thatcher (Meryl Streep), who was the first and only female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. The movies reveals that Thatcher became one of the most famous and influential women of the 20th century. Despite gender prejudices and her unworthy upbringing, she managed to battle her way through a man’s world and rise to the top.
4. Iron Jawed Angels:
This movie tells a story of a young American feminist, Alice Paul (Hilary Swank), who in collaboration with her friend Lucy Burns (Frances O’Connor) risks her life to fight for women’s citizenship and the right to vote. She was the founder of the National Woman’s Party and the author of the first equal rights amendment.
5. A League of Their Own:
In this movie most men are away in Europe and Asia fighting World War II, when the All-American Girls’ Professional Baseball League is formed. Even though the league was dismissed when the men returned home, this movie shows the flourishing time of the first ever females in sports.
6. Amelia:
This movie is in dedication of legendary Amelia Earhart (Hilary Swank), who left her mark in aviation history. She became the first woman ever to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean, proving to her country and the entire world that women were equal in courage to men.
7. Introducing Dorothy Dandridge:
Hollywood was a world filled with blonde pin-up queens when glamorous African-American Dorothy Dandridge arrived. She was a singer, a nightclub entertainer, and an actress who became the first African-American woman to be nominated for the Academy Award as Best Actress. She unfortunately lost, but this movie tells about Dandridge’s challenging career and the racism she had to go through in the film industry. As contribution to her, Dorothy’s character is played by Halle Berry, who was the first African-American to win the Academy Award for Best Actress.
8. Mona Lisa Smile:
The story focuses on a free-minded Berkeley graduate Katherine Watson (Julia Roberts). She became an art history professor at Wellesley College, an all-female school with a prestigious reputation for academic excellence. This movie shows how Watson challenges her students, who were more interested in scoring a good husband, to think outside the box and to become independent young women.
9. Erin Brockovich:
This drama is based on a true story of a single mother of three Erin Brockovich (Julia Roberts). After she lost her own injury lawsuit she helped her community win the largest settlement ever paid in a direct-action lawsuit. It involved Pacific Gas and Electric and their cover-up of the industrial poisoning of a city’s water supply.
10. Zero Dark Thirty:
For decades there have been teams of intelligence and military operatives working around the world with one goal in mind – to eliminate Osama bin Laden. One of the operatives is Maya (Jessica Chastain), and she is as dedicated to bringing the world safety as her fellow male operatives. Maya is a contemporary symbol of female toughness and courage in a man’s world.
As you can see, not only do these women inspire us, but they keep Hollywood fascinated with their stories. What is your favorite movie to celebrate Women’s History Month? Share with us in the comments below.
