Mercury 13 (2018)

Mercury 13: Directed by David Sington, Heather Walsh. With Joyce Case, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Jerrie Cobb. This documentary profiles women who were tested in 1961 for spaceflight, but had their dreams dashed when only men were chosen to become astronauts.

“Interesting documentary. Liberals will be angered at the way these women were treated and inspired by their courage. Far right wing conservatives will be angry because they are knuckle-dragging reactionary maniacs. My takeaway is quite different from both American camps. I canu0026#39;t understand why these women continued to be patriotic to a society that treated them so badly and why they were somewhat disappointed when the first woman in space was Soviet and not American. I also question the sincerity and inclusiveness of the American bourgeois feminist movement. Documentaries like this point out the injustices of the American capitalist system, but they do not question the fundamental injustice of capitalism itself and of Americau0026#39;s backward and reactionary nature. The Americans only did anything remotely progressive because the Soviets embarrassed them and they were forced to by their example as well as by burgeoning social movements and organized labor in the US.”