Film

The Janes

Name: The Janes
Genre: Documentary
Released: 2022
Cast: Heather Booth, Judith Arcana, Marie Leaner, Diane Stevens, Eleanor Oliver

A documentary about Jane, an underground network of Chicago women who provided safe, affordable abortions before Roe v. Wade. Through interviews with surviving members, it reconstructs their extraordinary work: how ordinary people became criminals to help others, what they risked, and why they did it. Essential testimony to a specific moment in American history, and to the people who acted when the law would not.

TMDb rating

2.8

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you want history told by the people who did the work, with plain-spoken testimony and archive footage that makes a secret network feel like a living, improvised operation.

Skip it if you need a film with a strong narrative arc or visual flair, since this is mostly talking heads and can feel more like a well-sourced lecture than a story.

What it asks of you: Settle in for an hour and forty minutes of steady, unhurried listening, with grim subject matter handled soberly and little in the way of humor to lighten the load.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Never Rarely Sometimes Always2020

A quieter film about abortion access that trusts you to feel the weight of restriction without spelling it out. Two teenage girls, limited options, the slow accumulation of barriers. It's as much about silence and shame as about the procedure itself.

But Deliberately paced and understated in a way that can feel glacial. If you want catharsis or clear villains, you won't find them here.

The Woman Who Ran2020

Hong Sang-soo's quiet masterpiece about a woman visiting an old friend, making choices about her own life, and the men who keep appearing. Like Jane, it's fundamentally about female autonomy and the space women carve out for themselves.

But Almost nothing happens. It's elliptical, repetitive, and requires patience. If plot drives you, this will frustrate.

Ask Dr. Ruth2019

Orna Jacoby's portrait of Ruth Westheimer as sex educator and boundary-breaker. Like the Janes, Ruth risked professional ruin to give women information they needed. It's warm, funny, and deeply moving about speaking the unspeakable.

But More traditionally biographical and celebratory than investigative. If you want moral complexity, it's lighter than The Janes.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The Janes

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

The Cider House Rules1999

Both centre on people who perform abortion work outside legal sanction, driven by conscience rather than ideology. Both ask: when law is unjust, who bears the responsibility to act?

Michael Caines as an abortionist in 1940s Maine, running a backwoods orphanage, teaching a younger man that rules and laws are not the same thing as ethics. It's a fictional narrative, not a document, but it's the closest drama gets to Jane's moral clarity. Caine's performance argues for complexity and principle without sentimentality.

But It's based on John Irving, which means it's sometimes overwritten. Some viewers find the ending too neat, too comfortable.

Citizen Ruth1996

Alexander Payne's savage satire about a pregnant woman trapped between pro-life and pro-choice activists, each side using her as a pawn. It captures the absurdity and real stakes of abortion politics without preaching.

But The tone is caustic and dark. Some find it cynical rather than insightful. It's also nearly 30 years old.

Unrest2017

Jennifer Brea's film about ME/CFS and medical invisibility. Like The Janes, it's about the gap between what bodies need and what institutions will provide—and what happens when you have to take matters into your own hands.

But Deeply personal and sometimes fragmented in structure. Illness documentaries are not for everyone, and this one is unflinching about suffering.

Rashomon1950

Both depend entirely on witness testimony and personal account. Neither has official documentation. Both ask you to construct truth from voices the powerful wanted silenced.

Kurosawa's masterpiece about competing versions of a crime, with no omniscient narrator to settle which is true. Jane operates in a space where official records are absent and testimony is all you have. This film taught cinema how to trust witnesses more than facts.

But It's in Japanese, subtitled, and over 70 years old. Some find it slow. The ambiguity that makes it brilliant frustrates viewers who want resolution.