Iron Jawed Angels

Iron Jawed Angels (2004) is a highly acclaimed film about the American women's rights movement during the early 1900s produced by HBO Films.


 * Written by Jennifer Friedes Sally Robinson. Directed by Katja von Garnier.

Votes for women.

Alice Paul
'There is nothing in liberty unless it is translated into definite action.' July 4th, 1914, Woodrow Wilson".
 * Alice Paul: [on the phone] Helen Keller's in town. Arrange for me to meet her. [pause] Alice Paul: No I don't know what hotel. [pause] Alice Paul: Well she's deaf and blind. If she found it, I'm sure you can.
 * "A vote is a fire escape".
 * I was put in a straight jacket and taken to the psychopathic ward. I could not see my family or friends, counsel was denied me. I saw no other prisoners and heard nothing of them. I could see no papers. Today I was force fed for the third time, I refused to open my mouth. My left nostril, throat, and muscles of my neck are very sore. I vomit continuously during the process.
 * "When you're alone you can make any choice you want. But when someone loves you, you lose that right. I won't give anything away until we have it all. I can't".
 * "We're legitimate citizens. We're taxed without representation. We're not allowed to serve on juries so we're not tried by our peers. It's unconscionable, not to mention unconstitutional. We don't make the laws but we have to obey them like children".
 * "You ask me to explain myself. I'm just wondering, what needs to be explained? It should be very clear. Look into your own heart—I swear to you, mine is no different. You want a place in a trades and professions where you can earn your bread; so do I. You want the means of self-expression, some way to satisfy your own personal ambitions; so do I. You want a voice in the government under which you live; so do I. What is there to explain?"
 * " 'I believe the might of America is the love of its people for the Freedom of Mankind' Woodrow Wilson, March 6, 1915.
 * 'We have forgotten the history of the country when we have forgotten to agitate when it is necessary' Woodrow Wilson, September 8, 1916.
 * "Liberty is a retractable thing to which no bounds ought to be set' Woodrow Wilson, A Message to Congress.

Lucy Burns

 * "We're citizens or we're chattel. You don't really need a degree from Harvard to figure that out".

Woodrow Wilson

 * "This war could not be fought by America if it had not been for the services of women. We have made partners of the women in the war. Shall we make them partners of only suffering and sacrifice and toil, and not a partnership of privilege and right? I know the magic it will work in their thoughts and their spirits if you give this thing to them that is mere justice. We shall need their moral sense to preserve what is right and what is fine and worthy in our system of life. Be assured that the voices of the radicals who agitate and disrupt have no influence here today. The task of woman lies at the very heart of the war and I know how much stronger that heart will beat if you do this just thing and show our women that you trust them, as much as you in fact depend on them. We shall deserve to be distrusted if we do not enfranchise them with the fullest possible enfranchisement as it is now certain the other free and great nations will enfranchise theirs. Have I said that the passage of this amendment is a vitally necessary war measure? And do you need further proof?"

Dialogue

 * Alice Paul: I'm not a man.
 * Inez Milholland: Ever wish you were?
 * Alice Paul: One time. When I saw my brother peeing his name in the snow.

Lucy Burns: We're political prisoners. We wear our own clothes.

Matron Herndon: You'll wear what they all wear.

Lucy Burns: I want to see the warden.

Matron Herndon: You want to see him naked?

Alice Paul: I found someone who designs parade floats.

Lucy Burns: Whoa, I thought we were going to keep this small.

Alice Paul: Why?

Lucy Burns: Because you've never organized a parade before. Neither have I. It's not like giving a dinner party.

Alice Paul: Have you ever given a dinner party?

Lucy Burns: No.

Alice Paul: Then what are you worried about?

Alice Paul: It's warm in here. Can you open a window?

Matron Herndon: Get to work.

Alice Paul: Can't you see she looks faint? All I ask is that you open a window.

Lucy Burns: Matron, my needle broke. Can I have another?

[Alice takes off her shoe and throws it at the window, breaking it]

Alice Paul: That's better, isn't it?

Matron Herndon: Put her in solitary.

Quotations on Banners

 * "Mr. President, How long must women wait for liberty?"
 * "We demand an amendment to the Constitution of the United States enfranchising women".
 * "No self respecting woman should work for the success of a party that ignores her sex".
 * "Forward out of the darkness. Leave behind the night. Forward out of terror, forward into light" - Quoting President Wilson
 * "We shall fight for the things which we have always carried nearest our hearts, for Democracy, for the right of those who submit to authority to have a voice in their own government" - Quoted President Wilson in his speech asking congress to declare war in WWI

Opening Quote - Senator

 * "That the female mind is inferior to the male mind need not be assumed. There is something about it that is essentially different and this difference is of a kind and a degree that votes for women would constitute a political danger".