She's Beautiful When She's Angry

Gr 9 Up—This documentary about the second wave of feminism covers the years 1966–71. It deftly pulls together the many threads and factions of the movement, from middle-class housewives responding to Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique, many of whom became the founders of the National Organization of Women, to radical groups such as the Redstockings and the lesbians of the Furies Collective. Additionally, women flocked to the cause from the civil rights movement and from Students for a Democratic Society and other activist groups. Director Mary Dore interviews many who look back at the groups they participated in and the change they were involved in bringing about, such as access to birth control, abortion, and workplace opportunities. Among them are participants of the Jane Collective, which trained women to perform abortions in Chicago when it was still illegal; author Rita Mae Brown; Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton; members of the Boston Women's Health Collective, which has published Our Bodies, Our Selves since 1970; and many others. Interviewees discuss struggling with other feminists over matters of race, class, and sexuality, as well as the difficulties of trying to work together in nonhierarchical organizations. Historic film clips take viewers into consciousness-raising groups, protests, and street actions.