These Films About Actual Ladies to Have fun Ladies’s Historical past Month
Over the last century, Women’s History Month evolved from a single day in March in the early 1900s to the entire month of March, celebrating women’s accomplishments and contributions. And what better way to honor their achievements than by putting them on film? Whether influential political figures, trailblazing scientists, historical heroines, or determined activists, these women captivate and inspire audiences with stories about overcoming the odds and breaking down barriers.
The public should celebrate women’s triumphs all the time, but why not take this time to focus on some uplifting biopics and documentaries that give voice to female achievements ? Celebrate Women’s History Month, and here’s to streaming their stories.
1. Hidden Figures (2016)
Everyone knows the daring movies about space exploration, but they usually focus on the men who do it or chart the way. In 2016, Theodore Melfi’s film based on the book of the same name introduced us to three Black female NASA mathematicians behind John Glenn’s Earth orbit: Katherine Johnson (Taraji P. Henson), Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer) and Mary Jackson (Janelle Monáe), whose coworkers often called them “computers with skirts.”
NASA began recruiting college-educated African Americans back in the 1940s, but until Hidden Figures, few people outside the agency had any knowledge of these brilliant women who made vital contributions to the space race – in the segregated South, no less. For a truly uplifting (and engaging) story, look no further.
2. She Said (2022)
It took five years after the Harvey Weinstein scandal blew up to bring the story of how it all happened to the big screen, and while it’s a tough topic, it’s still so important a tale. In 2017, two New York Times reporters, Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor (Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan, respectively), broke the Weinstein story that eventually led to the #Metoo movement, bringing a landslide of countless stories of sexual abuse and harassment in Hollywood to light.
No salacious re-creations here, just a series of account after account from women in all areas of the industry coming forward – Ashley Judd plays herself, the first actress to go on record for the Times article. If any film is an important watch to celebrate Women’s History Month, it’s this one.
3. RBG
The world knows Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg as the fiery equal-rights tough cookie in a lace collar who battled both sexism in her career and numerous bouts with cancer.
This documentary doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but it does introduce us to the woman behind the great legal mind: her heartbreaking loss as a young girl, her male cohorts’ dismissal early on, her devotion to husband Martin, her inspiring dedication to her workout routine (one-legged squats and full pushups in her 80s?!).
For anyone who only remembers “The Notorious R.B.G.” from Kate McKinnon’s hilarious impersonation on SNL some years ago and wants to know more, this doc offers a great start.
4. Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story (2017)
When you think of Hedy Lamarr, you’re likely envisioning an iconic image of a glamorous Golden Age movie star, not a creator of trailblazing technology that gave us today’s Bluetooth and WiFi.
A self-taught inventor and designer, Lamarr never talked publicly about her work inventing a radio-frequency communication system used to help defeat the Germans during World War II. Without the discovery of previously unheard audio tapes, the world would only remember her as the beauty that inspired the looks of Snow White and Catwoman rather than an ingenious scientist.
The documentary weaves video clips and interviews with the audio, bringing to light the fascinating story of an Austrian émigré whom most wrote off as just a, well, bombshell.
5. Queen of Katwe (2016)
Newcomer Madina Nalwanga delivers a breakout performance as 10-year-old Phiona Mutesi, a Ugandan girl growing up in the slums of Katwe (a neighborhood in the capital, Kampala) whose world changes forever when she stumbles upon chess at a youth ministry.
Almost instantly seeing her ability, her teacher (an excellent David Oyelowo) helps her get to the Chess Olympiad in Russia. Not only does she face opposition in the game, but people constantly dismiss Phiona for her gender; when the poor kids beat the rich boys, it’s that much more satisfying for her.
Usual sports-movie clichés? Check: It’s a Disney movie, after all, but audiences can overlook them thanks to the appealing cast and plucky real-life underdog who overcame the odds to succeed.
6. Harriet (2019)
Why did it take until 2019 for filmmakers to make a big-screen version of freedom fighter Harriet Tubman’s story?
After some years in development, Focus Features finally released this biopic starring Cynthia Erivo as the abolitionist who freed more than 70 slaves via the Underground Railroad and spied for the Union during the Civil War. While by no means a masterpiece, Erivo turns in a deservedly Oscar-nominated performance in a movie long overdue.
7. The Iron Lady (2011)
Meryl Streep won her third Academy Award for playing hugely influential conservative British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who not only transformed Britain but also the entire world economy in the 1980s. While cutting taxes and limiting labor union power, she deregulated the stock exchange and brought London to financial world power. But her unsympathetic nature and Reaganomics-style policies weren’t popular with everyone and they ushered in a drastic rise in inequality, so in 1990 the British government pushed her out.
The Iron Lady leaves viewers wanting more about Thatcher’s achievements in office, but Streep’s committed performance and excellent chemistry with Jim Broadbent as Thatcher’s husband, Denis, keep it entertaining.
8. Mrs. America (2020)
Not a movie but an FX miniseries that aired on Hulu, the historical drama Mrs. America features a powerhouse cast including Rose Byrne, Uzo Aduba, Elizabeth Banks, and Cate Blanchett as conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly.
Nine episodes chronicle the struggle for women’s causes and the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment while facing staunch and very public opposition by anti-libber Schlafly, whose grassroots activism effectively stopped the ERA in its tracks.
Rather than taking the easy route and playing her as a right-wing wicked witch, the always formidable Blanchett shows a woman unflappable in her convictions and beliefs, yet with secret flaws that make her human. The series presents what might have been muddy and boring material with clarity, while fairly capturing both sides of the fight.
9. Seeing Allred (2018)
In this 2018 documentary, polarizing women’s rights attorney Gloria Allred happily tells the world she doesn’t care if people don’t like here – she’s here to take on the battles others won’t, and she’s going to shout it from the rafters.
If all you know of Allred is her controversial press conferences, the film offers a fuller picture of the why behind them: early on, when the media learned about one of her first sexual assault cases, she became the first to publicly speak about assault and harassment at a time when nobody did.
Over the years, she’s become a familiar face on the news, whether for suing a store for separating the boys’ toys from the girls’ or organizing lawsuits against Bill Cosby – but she also fought behind the scenes for trans and gay rights as well as gender equality. Comics and late-night TV hosts can heckle all they want, but Seeing Allred puts this underdog champion in a sympathetic new light.
10. Battle of the Sexes (2017)
In 1973 the tennis match between self-appointed male chauvinist 55-year-old Bobby Riggs and 29-year-old superstar Billie Jean King had everyone buzzing after Riggs bragged to anyone who would listen that even at his age, he could beat any female tennis player.
Well, King served him both literally and figuratively in a thrilling match dramatized in this movie starring Emma Stone and Steve Carell. Behind the scenes, King’s husband pushed her to fight for equal pay; at the same time, her burgeoning relationship with her female hairdresser threatened her marriage.
Stone balances King’s steely determination with her charismatic personality like the pro we know she is, and Battle of the Sexes aces both the era and the story of a gender fight still being waged today.
11. Jackie (2016)
Blink and you missed this excellent, limited-release biopic starring Natalie Portman as Jacqueline Kennedy.
Director Pablo Larraín frames his film around the first interview Jackie gave to Life magazine after her husband’s death, as she recounts that tragic moment and its aftermath to a reporter. Portman disappears into Jackie, down to her stilted, indeterminate upper-crust accent and subtle facial expressions that express quiet moments of profound grief and doubt so much so viewers will forget the same actress played Thor’s love interest in Marvel movies.
Through it all, she navigates the male-centric political world around her like a defiant champ, dealing with her anguish under constant public scrutiny. It’s Portman’s show, and she is here for it.
12. Norma Rae (1979)
Those of us of a certain age remember Sally Field as much more than a sweet mom in movies like Forrest Gump and Mrs. Doubtfire and as Burt Reynolds’ long-suffering love interest. Norma Rae tells the true story of Crystal Lee Sutton, a poor North Carolina factory worker threatened and eventually fired in 1973 for encouraging her plant’s unionization.
As the exuberant (and loud!) titular textile mill unionizer, Field suddenly morphed into a dramatic actress audiences took seriously, and she won the Best Actress Oscar for the role. Sure, the script and acting may ring a little corny and dated, but highlighting the precarious relationship between workers and employers and the need to stand up for what’s right is absolutely relevant today.
13. Nyad (2023)
Record-setting swimmer Diana Nyad turned ageism on its head when she defied expectations by swimming 110 miles nonstop from Cuba to Florida at the age of 64 in 2013, 33 years after her first attempt.
The Netflix drama stars Annette Bening as Nyad and Jodie Foster as her lifelong friend and coach, Bonnie Stoll. It works as both a sports movie and a movie about honest female relationships. While the usual sports clichés abound, their deep friendship—with all the messiness that entails—sparkles.
14. Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise (2016)
In her 86 years, the poet, author, performer, and activist published a whopping seven autobiographies, earned 50-plus honorary degrees, gave 80 lectures a year, and recited the first poem at a presidential inauguration (Bill Clinton’s) since Robert Frost in 1961. And more.
This comprehensive look at her life features compelling interviews with Angelou herself, plus family and friends like the Clintons, Oprah Winfrey, and Cicely Tyson. It surprises with its breadth—exploring her beginnings as a singer to how she connected with important people like Martin Luther King Jr. and eventually became a powerhouse of cultural reform. A bit pedantic in its storytelling and direction, And Still I Rise still soars thanks to its captivating subject.
15. Frida (2002)
Salma Hayek’s passion project, Frida takes on the life and times of larger-than-life artist Frida Kahlo and her tumultuous relationship with husband and artist Diego Rivera, conveying the tragedy, heartbreak, and spirit behind the fiercely proud Mexican artist regarded as a feminist icon today.
After a bus accident left her crippled and in a lifetime of pain, Kahlo’s work sadly took a back seat to her philandering husband –director Julie Taymor wisely combats this problem with stunning costumes and colorful cinematography that puts Kahlo’s work front and center. A by-the-book screenplay notwithstanding, Frida gives us a vibrant look at the artist and iconoclast underrated in her time.
16. Colette (2018)
Anyone who dismisses Keira Knightley as just another pretty face hasn’t seen this indie gem about the French novelist most famous for 1944’s Gigi. As it opens, audiences meet Colette as a young girl who writes popular novels under her womanizing husband’s name. The troubled couple become stars in glittering, turn-of-the-century Paris; as he betrays her, she realizes she likes the ladies too.
Knightley shines as a woman openly exploring her sexuality while pushing to become an author in her own right – something unheard of in early 20th-century France. Through her eyes, the film explores not only self-awakening but the changing nature of society’s views on women in a story about female ambition and fearlessness.
17. The Woman King (2022)
That Viola Davis didn’t score an Oscar nomination for her role as a general in an all-female African army fighting the patriarchy shocked many a few years ago. The plot revolves around a young woman trying to join the Agojie, a real-life group of warriors –the only female army in modern history–who liberated women captured by slavers in what was then the Kingdom of Dahomey (now Benin) from the 17th to the 19th century.
While some critics knocked it for historical errors and Hollywood drama, as Rotten Tomatoes declares, “All hail Viola Davis! The Woman King rules.”
18. He Named Me Malala (2015)
In 2009, an 11-year-old Pakistani girl named Malala Yousafzai wrote a blog detailing her life in Pakistan under Taliban rule and advocating for female education, making international headlines and prompting the Taliban’s 2012 attempt on her life.
This documentary follows her journey from youngest-ever Nobel Peace Prize winner (in 2014, she was 17) to her current travels visiting girls’ schools around the world. If the movie feels a bit safe, it deserves watching for spunky Malala’s inspiring and remarkable story. Celebrate Women’s History Month with a mother-daughter movie night?
19. Erin Brockovich (2000)
A divorced, trashy mother of three, real-life whistleblower Erin Brockovich did the extraordinary: she talked her way into a legal firm job, investigated some questionable paperwork on her own, and blew open a massive lawsuit accusing Pacific Gas & Electric of contaminating groundwater and covering up the awful illnesses it caused in a small California town.
Julia Roberts gives us a masterful performance deserving of her 2001 Oscar win. She portrays sharp-tongued Brockovich with a bawdy sass that can’t hide a surprising innate goodness and commitment to helping people in need. It’s a lesson to remember that it’s never a good idea to judge the book—or the woman—by how they look.
20. Miss Americana (2020)
Love or hate Taylor Swift, this documentary about her may shift you to the “love” (or at least like a little more) side. Not a lurid exposé, it shines a light on the singer-songwriter’s hyper-perfection, revealing how her writing comes from a deeply personal place and how she has shaken off the music industry’s expectations demanding women to constantly redefine themselves – to a certain point, of course. There’s a reason she’s the world’s biggest superstar, and now audiences will know why.
21. Spencer (2021)
Jackie Kennedy may have been American royalty, but here Jackie director Pablo Larraín tackles a few days in the life of a real-life royal, Princess Diana. It’s more style than substance–it’ll disappoint Di lovers hoping for a salacious tell-all–but in an unlikely casting choice, Kristen Stewart so thoroughly inhabits her subject that viewers can’t look away.
It takes place during a Christmas weekend in 1991 when the royal family got together and collectively tried to ignore Di and Charles’ obviously crumbling marriage. In a small show of rebellion, Diana drives herself to the vast middle-of-nowhere country estate and rattles around it aimlessly, suffering haunting visions and dreaming of Anne Boleyn. As a young, beautiful humanitarian and advocate for many causes who brought realness to Buckingham Palace, Diana still rightfully commands attention.
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