I really enjoyed this movie. The cast was amazing, and the parts well acted. Amazing wardrobe, and the sets were beautifully done.One major issue I have with this movie is the soundtrack. I've always loved how the music sets the tone of a film. This movie fails on an epic scale here. There's R&B for crying out loud!! In a movie set in the beginning of the 20th century??? And a historical drama at that? Maybe it's just me....And Hillary Swank is her usual phenomenal self. Other than the unusual music choices, I'd highly recommend this movie to anyone who loves historical dramas.

In 1912, Alice Paul (Hillary Swank) and her close friend, Lucy (Frances O'Connor) have one matter on their minds, getting American women the right to vote. They are very familiar with the famous suffragettes who came before them, including Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Nevertheless, being younger than some of the feminists of their day, they have some new ideas and strategies. Their views do not often sit well with the older ladies of the struggle, including Carrie Chapman Catt (Anjelica Huston). When Alice finds it impossible to work out their disagreements, she starts her own group. Even a handsome newspaperman (Patrick Dempsey) can not sway her from her focus, although they remain friends. From staging D.C. parades to picketing the Wilson White House to being thrown in jail on false charges, Alice and Lucy mean business. Will they see their fondest dream come true? All women in American owe a great debt of thanks to these two brave women and their fellow suffragettes, one that can never be repaid, and this wonderful film tells their story with care and beauty. First, the cast is superlative, with Swank and O'Connor leading the way, followed by nice turns by such actresses as Vera Farminga, Julia Ormond, Molly Parker, Huston, and Brooke Smith, among others. No, the viewer is not always comfortable with Swank's character, Alice Paul, who is so committed to her cause that she shuts everything else out of her life. By contrast, O'Connor is a marvel, for her character is likewise dedicated but filled with regret for the husband and children she always wanted. The costumes are lovely and true, the scenery is beautiful and the entire production breathes classiness. Yet, it is the story that is a heart grabber and should send everyone to the library to learn more about the suffragettes trials. Wilson, a respected president in the annals of history, comes off as a stubborn man who resents the ladies' picket lines and allows them to be imprisoned, even when he knows they have not broken any laws. Once in jail, the conditions are dire and horrifying, to say the least, and any woman might wonder if she could endure the same for the right to vote. In such light, this wonderful movie is a must see for women everywhere and their partners. It was, after all, less than one hundred years ago that American women finally got that basic human right, suffrage, and, after a viewing, no female will ever take this matter nonchalantly again.

I've noticed that of the many things people have to say about this U-bend-encircling monster, all of them heavily critique the film's soundtrack. Ordinarily, I would consider something like that invalid to the film's quality, but not this time. This time, it was the extra step that transformed it from just another mediocre TV movie to a mind-numbing piece of junk food for the MTV generation's soul.From what I can understand, "Iron Jawed Angels" is about as historically accurate as "Godspell." It adds fictional characters (wherever they may fall and however intrusively) to an inspiring true story about a true believer, Alice Paul, who is reduced to a "Sex and the City" reject obsessed with men, hats, and, when necessary, the woman suffrage movement. It changes necessary distinctions into pure good and evil-- Alice Paul, a young, hip, sexy feminist, matches wits with Carrie Catt (Anjelica Huston), whose tangible contributions to the suffrage movement are tossed aside here because they needed a bad guy.Why didn't they just bring in Darth Vader?While the roles in this movie are not supposed to reinforce stereotypes, that's about all they do. There's a difference between "real woman" and "fictional, Lifetime Original Movie man-chasers wishing to be taken seriously." These characters cross that line, reducing their heroic real-life counterparts to babbling bimbos. And the only character who doesn't fit in his sex's stereotype is played by a useless Patrick Dempsey.Finally, we come to the two most heinous aspects of this TV movie (and I emphasize the phrase "TV movie"). First is the soundtrack. It's clear that they were trying to mimic (among other things) the style of the movie "Reds" in everything else. But to keep *its* soundtrack interesting, "Reds" used a selection of rags, traditional music from the time period, and genuine-feeling original compositions by Stephen Sondheim and Dave Grusin. But in "IJA," I was ever vigilant for the inevitable moment when Aretha Franklin's "Respect" would come blaring against a parade montage (don't get me wrong, "Respect" is a great song, but....) The soundtrack is included in the most harrowing part of the film: a scene in which Hillary Swank's Alice Paul is almost certainly masturbating in a bathtub, intercut with a scene of her and Dempsey dancing. The movie then lost all credibility. However, out of the goodness of my heart and my genuine sympathy for the issue at hand, I give it two instead of the one star it deserves. Well... maybe it doesn't even deserve that much. You should be the judge of that, but the filmmakers obviously don't think you're intelligent enough to make that call.

I knew when I saw the woman's naked back scrawled with Votes For Women in what appeared to be red lipstick that this would be yet another stinker from HBO. We know this network is capable of good efforts, such as Band of Brothers, but more often than not, they produce anachronistic potboilers masquerading as history. While some of these characters lived, others were created to suit the mawkish tendencies of the producer, writer and director. I could find no evidence of the Leightons in the history sources I consulted. I didn't do an exhaustive search, but their story also felt contrived. Suffragettes in general were single-minded, serious women, not pouty little twits who mooned about on swings with leaves swirling all over them while hip-hop blasted. What was up with that hideous soundtrack? I taught college for years, and my students often amazed me with their capacity to appreciate stories from other eras. Hip-hop has no place in a historical film. No wonder American students suffer from brain atrophy. If you never challenge people, then they cannot learn and grow. When I watched the brilliant Shoulder to Shoulder (the British tale of their suffrage movement) during the 70s, I never expected to hear Led Zeppelin or the Who in the soundtrack. I wouldn't have wanted to. Period music is necessary to create mood and tone. Likewise, those disgusting costumes, which were just plain wrong. The sets looked anachronistic, as well, no less as soundstagey as all get out. Whenever the characters went outside to stand in the cold, no condensation emerged with their breaths. I can't abide cheap, phony productions, and that is what we too often get in these American pieces. Many of the songs were rather lascivious, as were the gratuitous scenes of the homely Swank (she is a decent actress, but she is hardly attractive) masturbating in the bathtub, complete with too many shots of her over-collagened lips. Ben Weissman, the so-called cartoonist/love interest, was a fictional creation. This sort of fictionalized love story in the midst of a biopic seems nothing short of insulting to the viewers, as well as to the historical women who suffered greatly for their cause. With just a few exceptions, women were only just emerging as public femme-fatales at this point, but many of these songs had a slutty tone. In addition to these flaws, the film definitely dragged in many places. Watch Shoulder to Shoulder instead. American suffragettes deserve better treatment than this aimless mess.