"Suffragette" recounts the women's suffrage movement in Great Britain. The film, though based on actual events in Britain at the turn of the 20th century, uses a mix of real-life people and fictional characters to tell its story.

At the center of the screenplay by Abi Morgan ("The Iron Lady," 2011) is the fictional character of Maud Watts (Carey Mulligan), who works in a huge laundry company run by a brutish and loutish supervisor. On her way from work, Maud accidently gets caught up in a suffragette street protest that turns violent and is arrested.Thus begins a downward spiral in her personal life that estranges her from her husband, Sonny (Ben Whishaw), leading to their separation, and the husband to losing his job and having to put their young son up for adoption.The suffragette movement is run by the Women's Social and Political Union, led by Emmeline Pankhurst (Meryl Streep), who was a real-life person.Edith Ellyn (Helena Bonham Carter), another fictional character who is portrayed as the local WSPU organizer, and Violet Miller (Anne-Marie Duff), also a fictional character, bring Maud along on a series of acts of vandalism, including blowng up postal boxes and cutting telegraph wires.When Maud is arrested again on a more serious charge, a police investigator named Steed (Brendan Gleeson) attempts to get her to report on WSPU members' whereabouts and plans. An act of civil disobedience at the Epsom Derby goes horribly wrong when Emily Davison (Natalie Press), a real person, is trampled by the horse of King George V, which really happened.While the film presents the death of Davison as gaining sympathy for the movement, historians debate whether violence promulgated by the WSPU helped or hurt the suffragette cause.That's part of the problem with the earnest "Suffragette" film. Director Sarah Gavron, whether intentionally or not, seems to romanticize the WSPU-provoked violence. Because of that, or in spite of it, the tone of the film is a bit off. The tragedy of women's plight in the face of an intransigent and openly antagonisitic government is never quite conveyed.Instead, the screenplay dwells on the somewhat soap-opera sentiments of the fictional chararacters. The film never quite melds its fictional characters with the factual narrative.That said, "Suffragette" is not insufferable. Far from it. The film is worth seeing for the importance of its history alone.The film also has some commendable performances, most expecially that of Carey Mulligan, who is remarkably well-cast as the young suffragette. She tells volumes of emotions with her facile face.Art direction, costumes, sets and production values seem to be accurate to the era. Gavron, working with director of photography Eduard Grau, uses extreme closeups and hand-held camera in many of the scenes, effectively lending a sense of intimacy and immediacy."Suffragette" is worth your vote."Suffragette," MPAA rated PG-13 (Parents Strongly Cautioned. Some Material May Be Inappropriate For Children Under 13.) for some intense violence, thematic elements, brief strong language and partial nudity; Genre: Drama, History; Run time: 1 hr., 46 min.; Distributed by Focus Features.Credit Readers Anonymous: "Suffragette" lists the years when women over the age of 21 got the vote. New Zealand was first in 1893. The United States granted women the vote in 1920. In Great Britain, women could vote as of 1928.Box Office, Nov. 20: Because of the early Thanksgiving Day deadlines for the Focus section, weekend box office information was unavailable.Unreel, Nov. 27:"Creed," PG-13: Ryan Coogler directs Sylvester Stallone, who returns as the fictional former World Heavyweight Champion Rocky Balboa and is now trainer and mentor to Adonis Johnson, son of his late friend and former rival Apollo Creed. Michael B. Jordan, Tessa Thompson and Graham McTavish star in the drama."Victor Frankenstein," PG-13: Paul McGuigan directs Daniel Radcliffe, James McAvoy, Jessica Brown Findlay and Andrew Scott in the horror film that retells the Frankenstein story from the viewpoint of Igor, assistant to Viktor Von Frankenstein."The Good Dinosaur," PG: An Apatosaurus dinosaur named Arlo befriends a human being. Peter Sohn directs the animation family comedy and the voice talents of Raymond Ochoa, Jeffrey Wright, Steve Zahn and A.J. Buckley."The Danish Girl," R: Tom Hooper directs Alicia Vikander, Amber Heard, Eddie Redmayne and Ben Whishaw in the biography drama based on the lives of artists Lili Elbe and Gerda Wegener and their marriage as Elbe transitions her gender."Janis: Little Girl Blue," No MPAA rating: Amy Berg directs the documentary about the blues-rock singer, who died in 1970 at age 27 of a drug overdose, with interviews of Janis Joplin's parents, sister, brother, as well as Dick Cavett, Kris Kristofferson and surviving members of The Grateful Dead.Three Popcorn Boxes out of Five Popcorn Boxes