Meryl Streep appears briefly as the inspiring leader Emmeline Pankhrust, but the action concerns followers who risk everything to take action and defy not only the authorities bent on crushing them, but the hostility of embarrassed husbands who are supposed to keep their wives in check.

Carey Mulligan is moving as Maud Watts, a young laundress, wife and mother, who is won over to the aims of the movement at great personal cost. Her husband Sonny (Ben Whishaw), who works at the same laundry, kicks her out and seizes control over their son. While she fights back, Maud is undeterred in her commitment to winning the right of women to vote. Another key woman, Edith Ellyn, is played with dedication by Helena Bonham Carter. Symbolizing the opposition by the powers that be is Brendan Gleeson as the detective hunting down the women.

The film gives us a portrait of working class conditions, the long hours, the low pay and the sexual harassment endured. Importantly, we also observe the violent methods chosen in the fight. In a sense the film glorifies such violence in the form of explosions set off and women willing to risk their lives and those of others to call attention to injustice. Such scenes bring to mind violence by groups in our own country by people dedicated to a cause, such as the anti-war movement during the time of Vietnam. We can condemn violence, but it does get attention, as seen in “Suffragette.”