I got to see Secretariat not long ago, and I'm sorry I haven't had time to write a review until now, because quite simply, any woman interested in feminism as it has developed in the United States should see this movie.
The movie is an adaptation of the real story of Helen "Penny" Chenery Tweedy, and while some aspects have been changed for a more dramatic story*, it is overall true to history. But, changes aside, what is indisputable is that Penny Chenery Tweedy took on an almost entirely male racing establishment to save her family's racing stables, at a time when women's roles in the business sphere were just beginning to expand.
Chenery herself has said, "I think I was able to achieve things that helped women in their quest for acceptance as functioning individuals in the business world or in the sporting world. The industry is a very old-fashioned one, and they didn’t like having a woman in charge. . . . I did, when I had to, go in and say, ‘This is what’s going to happen.’"
The movie passes the Bechdel Test with more than one conversation between female characters, and carries an important sub-message in Chenery's explicit support of her daughter's political beliefs and activities, even when they differ strongly from her own.
It is one of those cultural stereotypes that pre-teen girls go through a horse-crazy phase. Chenery's story serves as an inspiration to show those girls that they don't have to be limited to that role in the horse world. Chenery graduated Smith College, one of the seven sisters all-women colleges, and this experience along with her attendence at Columbia Business School and her father's early mentoring of her gave her the background needed to take over the family business.
The film does an excellent job of positioning her story alongside the story of Secretariat himself, and does not pull punches in showing the obstacles that she faced from rivals, critics, and family in taking on a business role as a woman. It is also, ultimately, a story of triumph against the odds, and the value in perseverance and faith in oneself, and that is a message that all of us can use.**
*For example, her stable was hardly a plucky underdog when Secretariat was racing, since her horse, Riva Ridge, had won the Derby and Belmont the previous year. She also had more than the one sibling shown in the film.
**I must also add that I was disappointed by the film's coda, showing how each of the main characters had done since Secretariat's Triple Crown win, because the one African-American character - Eddie Sweat, Secretariat's groom - was not given the same degree of attention to his later life that the other characters were.
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