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Hello Cafetalk Community!
I found a very interesting watch on Netflix called, "Radium Girls." The narrative is a tragic true story about girls who worked with radium without knowing it's toxic for them. It will stick in my mind for quite a long time.
I would like to share some of the descriptions from major media sources:
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[The New York Times]
In the 1920s, when radium was advertised as a luminous substance with health benefits, two teenage sisters make ends meet working at New Jersey’s American Radium Factory. Bessie (Joey King) wants to be a Hollywood star, while Jo (Abby Quinn) aspires to become an archaeologist, but for now, they’re on a factory line where girls paint the tiny radioactive faces of glow-in-the-dark watches, repeatedly licking their brushes to a point.
Their dreams quickly shatter when Jo develops concerning symptoms — including losing a tooth — and the sisters learn about a group that believes radium is toxic and exposure can be fatal. This realization coincides with Bessie’s budding romance with a Communist and her own radicalization, as she becomes aware of capitalist greed trumping employees’ safety.
A worthy entry in the category of workers’ rights movies, “Radium Girls,” like “Silkwood,” is based on actual events. In it, the directors Lydia Dean Pilcher and Ginny Mohler reveal a little-known part of history with a loudly beating feminist heart and a narrative grounded in reality.
_______________________________________[Common Sense Media]
Radium Girls is an inspiring coming-of-age drama set in the 1920s and executive-produced by Lily Tomlin. It's based on shocking real events that led to government regulations to protect U.S. workers. When trusting 17-year-old main character Bessie (Joey King) realizes that her sister's mysterious illness might be related to toxic materials at work, she sets out to fight a powerful system that prioritizes profits over people. The film reflects what happened in real life: Doctors were paid off to tell the girls they were suffering from syphilis, rather than radiation poisoning, to shame them into silence. It's an intersectionally feminist story in that it's about a range of women -- low-income laborers, Harvard professors, scientists, and legal counselors -- banding together to make a change. A subplot shows Black and White activists working together for racial unity, but the story centers on a White woman's experience. Real footage from the 1920s is used to show marches that echo contemporary issues, including demands for equal rights and to abolish the police (there's a clip of a cop swinging his baton at protestors). There are also disturbing scenes of a young woman's teeth and jaw falling out due to radiation poisoning. While it's never stated in the movie, the film was created as a warning that similar horrors could recur due to the many EPA regulations and labor laws rolled back under the Trump Administration.
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If you're looking for something good to watch on Netflix. Put it on your "to-watch" list. I hope you enjoy it. There are so many movie and tv offerings on Netflix that sometimes we are at a loss where to start. I hope you like the recommendation! I will keep you updated on the best Netflix shows as I find them!
Looking forward to seeing you soon!
Warmest regards,
Lady Ayame
(Patricia Ayame Thomson)
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