Film Review: Now Is The Time To Become One of The Glorias
Life feels pretty intense the closer we get to the election because the human rights of various groups, that still struggle to get them, could be lost even more. It is like needing more medicine to survive; only to have the few pills you get be taken. A weird comparison, I know, but RBG was an impactful vocalist for the rights of many marginalized groups, including the one she was apart of: women. The very real fear that a struggled existence could get worse is why the biopic film, The Glorias, feels like a warm cup of sweet cocoa to those feeling the chill of hopelessness.
We are in a weird crux because we are at a point where we don’t know if we can say all our ancestors had it worse than us, the same, or we are about to have it as bad as them; the “it” being what RBG quotes as societal “knees on our necks.” Yet, before RBG became a feminist rockstar, there was the sweeping beauty and intelligence of Gloria Steinem: played by Alicia Vikander during the 1960’s, Julianne Moore during the 1970’s, Lulu Wilson during the 1950’s, and Ryan Kiera Armstrong during the 1940’s. Each actress takes you from the childhood to the womanhood of a person whose spirit and mind still, oddly, feel way ahead of our present times, in part, because she breathes compassion.Unsurprisingly, each actress captures Gloria’s ability to feel accessibly confident, and why many women she meets in her life on the road become her “Glorias,” as well, like, Janelle Monáe’s Dorothy Pitman Hughes, Lorraine Toussaint’s Flo Kennedy, and Bette Midler’s Bella Abzug.
The Glorias Trailer #1 (2020) | Movieclips Indie
The movie feels very “On The Road,” with each version of Gloria feeling present to the other like a magical realist element. Each Gloria carries her past, especially its women, into her next chapter, with the richness of Gloria’s mind and heart feeling textured by their woes. From the rape victims she speaks to in India to her own mother’s battle with depression and a miserable marriage (Enid Graham as Ruth), the way men violate, vilify, and devalue women frames Gloria’s independent, adventurous spirit because that is who she is as a person. Ambition, wonder, and intelligence are often treated as male qualities when, in fact, they are just human, and, beyond gender, people are filled with them, especially a special few. Written and directed By Julia Taylor, she brilliantly makes Gloria feel almost like Dona Quixote; a visionary woman that sees cruel giants when they try to “act” like windmills.
In some ways, when you look at Gloria Steinem’s life, it does feel literary and epic, in part, because it is important. When you put yourself on the forefront of a social justice movement, it is not because you want to be iconic or you even believe your ideas are revolutionary. It is because you are human and you want to love yourself, your people, this world, and your life to the FULLEST without some man telling you that you can’t. For Gloria, at every stage in her life, there was guy telling her she couldn’t because of her gender, but she knew she could because of her heart, and Taymor beautifully frames that. Revolutions are not born from societal clashes; they are born from heart ones. The Glorias comes out on streaming platforms on September 30.
