We Want Roses Too

All over Europe, women have fought hard for equal rights, certainly in post-war Italy, a conservative and religious country with serious tendencies toward machismo. We Want Roses Too is a portrait of the Italian feminist movement - it is centred around the diaries of three women, which are read aloud in the voice-over. They tell of the sexual, legal, economic and social liberation of women, of the doubts that came along with it, and of the feeling of solidarity that women gradually came to cherish. The footage consists of archive material from the period, including many photos, amateur films, television reports and debates, but also home movies, a photo novel of a traditional love story, commercials from back then, and film coverage of demonstrations and of discussions during emancipation assemblies. In the latter, men are desperately wondering who will cook dinner if their wives go out at night. Music and animation make this briskly paced documentary into a cinematic whole. We Want Roses Too attests to the battle that women waged, but it also raises questions about the current state of affairs. (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam)