The Glorias (2020)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Glorias is a historical and biographical drama which premiered in 2020.

 

The main character is the American feminist Gloria Steinem who is an activist and an author. In 1972 she was a co-founder of Ms. Magazine.

 

Here is some basic information about this biopic:

 

** Director: Julie Taymor

** Writers: Julie Taymor and Sarah Ruhl

** Based on the book My Life on the Road by Gloria Steinem (published in 2015)

** Run time: 147 minutes

 

Gloria Steinem was born in 1934. This biopic covers her life and career over several decades: from the time when she was a child until the present day when she is a mature adult.

 

The story does not follow a chronological line from the distant past to the present day. Instead, it jumps back and forth in time. At first this is a bit confusing. But after a while you will get used to it and when you understand the system, you will be able to understand what is going on.

 

To cover so many years, four different actors were chosen to play the role of Gloria:

 

# 1. Ryan Kiera Armstrong is the child

# 2. Lulu Wilson is the teenager

# 3. Alicia Wikander is the young adult (age 20-40)

# 4. Julianne Moore is the mature adult (age over 40)

 

This biopic is a combination of two elements:

 

(1) The facts of life

(2) A fantasy or a dream

 

There are four Glorias here! In some scenes, two of them or three of them meet each other, talk to each other, and offer advice to each other about what to do in life!

 

The remaining cast includes the following:

 

** Betty Midler as Bella Abzug (1920-1998) – feminist – activist – lawyer - politician

** Janelle Monae as Dorothy Pitman Hughes (born 1938) – feminist – author - in 1972 co-founder of Ms. Magazine

** Lorraine Toussaint as Florynce Kennedy (1916-2000) – lawyer – feminist

** Kimberley Guerrero as Wilma Mankiller (1945-2010) – Native American – Cherokee activist

 

** Mango Moorer as Barbara Jordan (1936-1996) – lawyer – civil rights activist

** Monica Sanchez as Dolores Huerta (born 1930) – labor organizer

** Timothy Hutton as Leo Steinem – Gloria’s father

** Enid Graham as Ruth Steinem – Gloria’s mother

 

Since this drama is based on a true story, the basic facts are part of the public record. They are not a secret. I could mention many of them here, but I am not going to do that. I do not wish to spoil the viewing for anyone. I will, however, have to mention a few details in order to explain my rating (see below).

 

While this drama is based on a true story, it is not a documentary film. It is a dramatized version of events. Not everything happened exactly as shown here.

 

Some details have been added or changed or excluded for practical reasons or dramatic purposes.

 

As stated above, some scenes are based on a fantasy or a dream. But otherwise, the story is true.

 

What do reviewers say about this historical and biographical drama? Here are the results of three review aggregators:

 

54 percent = IMDb

58 percent – Meta

64 percent = Rotten Tomatoes (the audience)

67 percent = Rotten Tomatoes (the critics)

 

As you can see, the ratings are neither bad nor great. They are average. They correspond to something like three stars on Amazon.

 

If you ask me, these ratings are too low. On the other hand, I cannot go all the way to the top, because there are at least two flaws which cannot be overlooked. Let me explain:

 

# 1. In the year 2000, when she is more than 60, Gloria marries Christian Bale. The marriage does not last long, because he dies just three years later, in 2003. But this is not the point here. What I want to say is this:

 

** How did this happen?

** Where did he come from?

 

Christian Bale appears out of the blue and she marries him, even though he she has been opposed to the institution of marriage for most of her adult life!

 

The marriage ceremony, which appears towards the end of the movie, is performed by a Native American, Wilma Mankiller, who is a close friend of Gloria. It is a big deal. But it does not really fit with what we have been told so far.

 

When it comes to her personal life, some parts are covered, while other parts are excluded. We see her mother and her father. But we never see her with a boyfriend. Are we supposed to believe that Gloria Steinem never had a boyfriend?

 

Obviously, she did have boyfriends, but we never see them in the movie. This is an odd detail to exclude in a biopic about a famous feminist.

 

# 2. Gloria has an older sister. Her name is Susanne Steinem Patch and she lived from 1925 to 2007. She was a gem stone expert and a lawyer. But you would not know any of these facts from watching this movie.

 

In this movie, we meet her mother and her father, but we never meet her sister! This is an odd detail to exclude from the story of Gloria’s life.

 

CONCLUSION

I like this movie and I want to give it a good rating, but as you can see, there are some flaws which cannot be ignored. I have to remove one star because of them. Therefore, I think this drama deserves a rating of four stars (80 percent).

 

PS. The following review is available online:

 

Adrian Horton,

“Gloria Steinem biopic is a laughably shoddy mess,”

The Guardian, 29 September 2020.

This review offers 1 of 5 stars (a rating of 20 percent)

If you ask me, this rating is not fair. It is far too low.

 

REFERENCES

 

** Education of a Woman: The Life of Gloria Steinem by Carolyn Heilbrun (1995)

 

** Gloria Steinem: Her Passions, Politics, and Mystique by Sydney Ladensohn Stern (1997)

 

** Ms. Gloria Steinem: A Life by Winifred Conkling (2020)

 

*****

 

Gloria Steinem (born 1934)

 

*****