Feminists and Flourbombs

Films

A League of Their Own (Penny Marshall, 1992)
Dramatisation of the true story of a group of women enlisted to play baseball while male players were away fighting World War II. The league paved the way for new attitudes towards women in sport.

Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (Martin Scorsese, 1974)
A widowed mother strives to start a new life in this critically acclaimed, much-loved '70s drama.

An Angel at My Table (Jane Campion, 1990)
Based on the autobiography of New Zealand writer, Janet Frame, diagnosed as mentally ill, and mistreated for years in the health care system.

An Unmarried Woman (Paul Mazursky, 1978)
Portrait of woman coping with divorce was praised by critics for its ground-breaking, unwaveringly realistic focus.

Bandit Queen (Shekhar Kapur, 1994)
Indian film about a woman who leaves her arranged marriage to become leader of a bandit group. True story. They call her The Goddess of the Flowers.

Frida (Paul Leduc, 1987)
A film-portrait of Mexican painter Frida Kahlo, one of the most important artists of the 20th century. A flow of vibrant images, the film covers Kahlo's crippling childhood accident, marriage to Diego Rivera and involvement in radical politics.

Fried Green Tomatoes (Jon Avnet, 1991)
Three women’s lives intertwine as an elderly woman recounts her lesbian feminist past in hostile, rural America.

I, the Worst of All (Maria Luisa Bemberg, 1995)
The life of Sister Juana Ines de la Cruz, one of the greatest Spanish language poets who became a nun in 16th century Mexico so she could write. Her freethinking and feminist sentiments bring her into conflict with a misogynist Archbishop.

La Fille D’Artagnan (Bertrand Tavernier, 1994)
A young woman enlists her famous musketeer father in a bid to find and punish those who were responsible for an attack on her convent.

Ladybird Ladybird (Ken Loach, 1994)
The life of an unmarried mother of four and the officials who remove the children from her. She meets a Paraguayan political refugee who changes her life. Based on a true story.

Les Silences du Palais (Moufida Tlatli, 1994 )
About a mother and daughter living as servants in Tunisia.

My Brilliant Career (Gillian Armstrong, 1979)
Drama about independent-minded, turn-of-century Australian woman who defies convention. Strong feminist subtext.

Neria (Godwin Mawuru, 1992)
Hard-hitting feminist film about rights of inheritance and traditional practices that leave women at the mercy of male relatives should their husbands die.

Nikita (Luc Besson, 1990)
A woman is trained to become a French government assassin but goes astray. Actress Anne Parillaud gives a strong performance as a gun-wielding maverick.

Shirley Valentine (Lewis Gilbert, 1989)
Sick of being taken for granted by her husband, a Liverpool housewife escapes to Greece where she has an affair. Tackles sexual politics, marriage and middle age with a light touch.

Silkwood (Mike Nichols, 1985)
Karen Silkwood, played by Meryl Streep, worked in a plant producing fuel rods for nuclear power plants. She had X-rays showing the plant was falsifying records to save time. She was delivering them to a reporter when she was killed.

Steel Magnolias (Herbert Ross,1989
Starring Dolly Parton and Julia Roberts as members of a group of women who congregate at Truvy Jones' Beauty Parlour and lean on one another for support.

The Accused (Jonathan Kaplan, 1988)
An ambitious female assistant district attorney and a free-spirited waitress played by Jodie Foster join forces to bring to trial men who witnessed a bar-room gang rape but did not intervene to stop it.

The Handmaid's Tale (Voker Schlondorff, 1990)
A horrific world — after a Christian fascist coup the few remaining fertile women are enslaved as the breeders for the elite. Adapted by Harold Pinter from Margaret Atwood’s novel.

The Life and Times of Rosie the Riveter (Connie Field, 1980)
Seminal documentary that looks at the role women played in the US economy during World War II and their struggle to remain part of the workforce when the war ended. This film features five women who movingly recall their histories of working during the war and is intercut with rare archive footage and recruitment films.

The Rain People (Francis Ford Coppola, 1969)
Arty, lesser-known film about a pregnant woman's adventures on the road.

Thelma and Louise (Ridley Scott, 1991)
Women’s road and buddy adventure which turns the ‘lads bonding’ genre on its head. Two friends break away from normal lives and wreak havoc.

Top