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Historical Context - Films

15 items

The Woman King

The Woman King

A historical action epic directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood, starring Viola Davis. Set against the backdrop of the 19th-century West African Kingdom of Dahomey's all-female warrior regiment, the Agojie, following General Nanisca as she trains a new generation of female warriors to defend the kingdom. The film explores important themes of Black female power, African historical narrative, decolonialism, and women's military leadership.

查看详情 135 min
2022
USA

The Woman King

Gina Prince-Bythewood

Action Drama History
Black Feminism Decolonial Feminism +4
Happening

Happening

Adapted from Nobel Prize winner Annie Ernaux's autobiographical novel, following a 23-year-old French university student's desperate and dangerous journey seeking abortion in 1960s France when it was illegal. Directed by Audrey Diwan, this award-winning film deeply explores reproductive autonomy, body politics, class inequality, and women's predicament in patriarchal society, becoming a powerful testimony to contemporary women's rights struggles.

查看详情 100 min
2021
France

Happening

Audrey Diwan

Drama Social Issues Biographical
Reproductive Autonomy Abortion Rights +4
Emma.

Emma.

An adaptation of Jane Austen's novel directed by Autumn de Wilde, starring Anya Taylor-Joy. The film follows wealthy young woman Emma Woodhouse in Regency-era England as she enthusiastically matchmakes for others, discovering her own true emotions in the process. The director reinterprets this classic literary work with exquisite visual aesthetics and a modern feminist perspective, deeply exploring important themes including female independence, class consciousness, marriage choices, and coming-of-age awakening.

查看详情 124 min
2020
UK

Emma.

Autumn de Wilde

Romance Comedy Period Drama
Class Analysis Economic Empowerment +4
Roma

Roma

Writer and director Alfonso Cuarón has described Roma as a love letter to all the women who raised him. It's a beautiful rumination on all the 'hoods' women go through: girlhood, womanhood, motherhood. A domestic drama about a maid and the middle-class family she cares for in Mexico City, the story is told in crisp black-and-white, but it doesn't take long to see that a woman's work never ventures far out of the gray area.

查看详情 135 minutes
2018
Mexico

Roma

Alfonso Cuarón

Drama Historical
Intersectional Feminism Class Analysis +4
Wonder Woman

Wonder Woman

Patty Jenkins's Wonder Woman stars Gal Gadot as the titular DC Comics superhero, who fights injustice with strength, courage, and her golden Lasso of Truth. A box-office smash that scored more than $100 million on opening weekend—a record for a female-helmed film—it definitely positions Wonder Woman as the antidote to toxic masculinity her original creator imagined her to be.

查看详情 141 minutes
2017
USA

Wonder Woman

Patty Jenkins

Action Adventure Fantasy
Economic Empowerment Anti-Sexual Violence +4
The Keeping Room

The Keeping Room

At the end of the American Civil War, three women living alone on a desolate Southern farm must fight to defend themselves against two rogue soldiers who have broken off from the Union Army. This revisionist feminist western reexamines the brutality of war from a female perspective, exploring complex themes of women's self-defense rights, racial relations, and survival instincts.

查看详情 95 minutes
2014
USA

The Keeping Room

Daniel Barber

Western Drama Thriller
Anti-Sexual Violence Race and Gender +4
A League of Their Own

A League of Their Own

The late Penny Marshall directed this gem about the very first female professional baseball league. Geena Davis stars as the World War II–era catcher fighting the patriarchy, and Tom Hanks plays the cranky team manager with a heart of gold. As inspirational as it is just plain entertaining, the film encourages female viewers young and old to embrace the champion stifled inside each one of us.

查看详情 128 minutes
1992
USA

A League of Their Own

Penny Marshall

Comedy Drama Sport
Sports Equality Historical Context +3