Bella Abzug – ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS

MOVIE OF THE WEEK August 18, 2023: BELLA!

August 13, 2023August 21, 2023 Jennifer Merin Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, barbra streisand, Bella Abzug, Bella!, betsy bozdech, Cate Marquis, documentary, Elizabeth Warren, gloria steinem, Hillary Clinton, Jeff L. Lieberman, jennifer merin, leslie combemale, liz whittimore, loren king, Maxine Waters, Nancy Pelosi, nell minow, nikki fowler, Pam Grady, Re-Emerging Films, sherin nicole

In a USA that’s lucky enough to have strong women like Kamala Harris, Maxine Waters, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Elizabeth Warren, and Katie Porter speaking up, persisting, reclaiming their time, and generally schooling the White male political old guard, it’s important to remember that Bella Abzug did it all first. Jeff L. Lieberman’s engrossing documentary Bella! reminds us what a trailblazer — and force of nature — Abzug was, detailing her impact on American government and culture.

Reviews

BELLA! – Review by Loren King

August 12, 2023August 13, 2023 Loren King barbra streisand, Bella Abzug, Bella!, hilary clinton, Jeff L. Lieberman, Letty Cottin Pogrebin, lily tomlin, Marlo Thomas, Nancy Pelosi, shirley maclaine

Enlightening, passionate, nostalgic and endlessly riveting, Bella!, a documentary about feminist trailblazer and force of nature Bella Abzug, is all these things and more. One thing I didn’t expect is that the film is also sad. That moment happens when Abzug’s friend and fellow activist, the writer Letty Cottin Pogrebin says that Abzug, who died in 1998, is all but forgotten now because she’s not being taught in schools and Pogrebin’s own grandchild had no idea who she was. All the more reason that “Bella!” needs a release as wide as the whole world.

Reviews

BELLA! – Review by Jennifer Merin

August 12, 2023August 13, 2023 Jennifer Merin barbra streisand, Bella Abzug, Bella!, hilary clinton, Jeff L. Lieberman, Letty Cottin Pogrebin, lily tomlin, Marlo Thomas, motw, Movie of the Week, Nancy Pelosi, shirley maclaine

Bella! And, yes, be sure to include the exclamation point in the film’s title because the subject of Jeff L. Leiberman’s well researched and beautifully crafted documentary deserves emphatic punctuation. Bella Abzug (1920-1998) was a champion of civil rights for women in every aspect of our lives. She was the feminist activist politician who fought fiercely to enact laws to establish and protect equity in the workplace, in government representation, in family matters — all of the women’s civil rights that we are now at such high risk of losing in our nation’s current regressive climate.