Suffragette humanizes the struggle for voting equality in 1912, bringing its harsh (force-fed) realities to the fore as downtrodden laundress Maud (a top-notch Carey Mulligan) is pulled into the Women’s Movement.

Careful enough to not bop its audience over the head with a ‘message’, Suffragette allows steady pacing and room for conflicted characters like Maud’s husband Sonny (sensitively played by Ben Whishaw), who is resigned to his lot and unprepared for his wife’s conversion.

Streep may be Pankhurst, but it’s the foot soldiers from across society’s spectrum that Suffragette focuses on, with Duff and Bonham Carter in refreshingly low-key support.

Although not a hopeful film Suffragette is inspirational nonetheless, portraying the sacrifices made as women were pushed toward vandalism for want of a better alternative, in a no-nonsense fashion.

RATING: 4/5

INFORMATION

CAST: Carey Mulligan, Anne-Marie Duff, Helena Bonham Carter, Ben Whishaw, Brendan Gleeson, Meryl Streep

DIRECTOR: Sarah Gavron

WRITER: Abi Morgan

SYNOPSIS: As the police and government begin to crack down on Women’s Suffrage, and with Emmeline Pankhurst (Streep) in hiding for fear of arrest, it is left to the foot soldiers of the movement to continue their fight, no matter the personal cost.