Yours in Sisterhood

Filmmaker Irene Lusztig's stirring documentary is set in the present, although the words that women read here hail from the past: mostly-unpublished letters that readers across the country wrote to Ms. magazine from 1972-80. The letters aren't short or pithy; if anything, they include so much detail that they are closer to personal essays. The 27 participants who read don't appear to be actors, and the readings are engaging, while never feeling theatrical or stagy. The unidentified women appear on streets, stoops, and lawns while wearing everyday outfits. A young woman of color in Atlanta reads a 1974 letter about street harassment written by a woman from the same city. A grey-haired white woman in San Francisco reads a letter in praise of masturbation. She ends by saying, "If you publish this, for the sake of my husband's sex privacy, please sign me by my maiden name." Other readers take on race, gun rights, pornography, sexual abuse, prison reform, and environmental activism. Many of the readers comment on what they've just read, while others just stare patiently at the camera. Lusztig brings it all home by seeking out four of the original writers to read the words they wrote 40 years ago. In adding their own thoughts and experiences, all of the women draw attention to the ways things have and haven't changed for women since the 1970s. Highly recommended. Aud: C, P. (K. Fennessy)