For Love or Money

Documentaries probably don't come more ambitious than this: co-produced by an Australian women's collective, its subject matter is little less than a feminist analysis of Australian women's fortunes in (and out of) the work force - where Australian includes Aborigine and migrant women - across a 200-year sweep from the arrival of the first women convicts to the present day. To document this huge and diverse subject, the film-makers use a dense montage of footage - archive material, clips from feature films, TV ads, even donated home movies - which is complemented or ironically counterpointed with a medley of narrative voices and incidental music. In more crudely didactic hands, the material could have been unpalatable, but agile editing, some grimly humorous footage, and a prevailing sense of conviction keep it moving along, while the strength of the analysis it develops justifies its exhausting means.