I was very engrossed in watching Ask for Jane. Though I am of the same generation, aware and well read, I didn't know about the Janes. I wonder whether publicity about them ever reached the East Coast. I had to keep reminding myself that the film took place in the Midwest, thereby making the plight of women more of a struggle than in more progressive cities on both Coasts. Their location also explained the way the women looked, which puts a positive spin on it, rather than saying the director screwed up. Some of the outfits they wore and hair styles were not very realistic. In fact, one was downright distracting: one of the main characters, Rose, had a dye job, in which the bottom three inches or her hair were reddish while the rest was dark brown. To my knowledge this type of hombre effect in hair coloring did not become a popular style until after the Millennium.
But hair and clothes aside, the film is powerful in its portrayal of dedicated young women who felt strongly enough about helping women, including themselves, to risk being arrested and convicted of a crime. Ultimately the film is about the oppression of women, and how the right to control one's own body, and even to know and understand one's body, had always been in the hands of men.
The film was strong in showing how in most situations, the women were always expected to defer to men, whether their husbands, fathers, doctors or clergy. Despite coming from relatively conservative backgrounds, the women portrayed, the Janes as they were known, were brave, noble and revolutionary. I hope they got (or get) at least some of the recognition they deserved.
