Woman to Woman

This documentary, in which women speak to each other about themselves, leaves one with a residual and positive sense of shared problems and collective strength. By involving women from as many social levels as possible, Deitch manages to avoid the aura of elitism and in-group morale-boosting that tends to haunt much of West Coast independent film-making. Opening with a montage of clips illustrating the history of women at work, Woman to Woman becomes even more assured once Deitch begins to talk to specific groups of women face-to-face. Perhaps her greatest asset, an infinitely valuable one, is the ability to convey, unfiltered, an immediate impression of the individual women and their particular experience. One comes out feeling stimulated by their company, rather than thinking they have been marshalled into the film as specimens illustrating a predetermined argument.