DISNEY PRESENTS

FEMALE PARTICIPATION IN SPORTS REDFINES GENDER BARRIERS

By PETER THOMAS BUSCH

The English Channel posed a formidable challenge to humanity still stuck in the gender myths about the female body.

But American swimmer Trudy Ederle proved the old way of thinking about women all wrong by conquering one of the great natural barriers in the world in 1926.

Daisy Ridley stars as Trudy, in this classic Disney Studios telling of the first woman to swim across the 21 mile wide English Channel.

In classic Disney fashion, the camera finds Trudy as a young child surrounded by her family living in early 20^th Century New York City.

Tilda Cobham-Hervey plays Trudy’s sister Meg. And Trudy and Meg grow closer together when Trudy survives a bought of smallpox at a time when smallpox could still kill young children.

Director Joachim Ronning spins together the true to life tale with the Disney coming of age and the Disney sports biopic film formulas.

Life in New York City is a lot of hard work, with few financial returns. Kim Bodnia plays Trudy’s father, Henry, a German immigrant providing for his family from the returns of a small butcher shop.

Henry is a loving father trying to provide the best life for his two daughters.

The director takes everyone to Coney Island for famous hotdogs from where the fixation with swimming is shown to develop. Trudy, the world champion, is still the young child Trudy recovering from smallpox. Olive Abercrombie plays the young swimmer with the early determination to do what no one else experts her to do.

The narrative device is the linear line swimmers must follow from Point A to Point B. The camera never turns back and instead keeps the story telling moving forward with those poignant moments the film studio is so famous for.

Trudy must prove herself time and time again, beginning with learning the 28 beat American front crawl in a private, women only, swimming pool.

Ridley carries the film through many scenes while the story builds anticipation for when the young girl, hampered by a childhood disease, becomes an accomplished athlete as a young woman.

Initially, Trudy is directed into standard female gender roles, as a young woman in New York City with few other options. But Ridley shows how Trudy becomes determined to be recognized as a successful athlete.

The compelling story is helped through the many swimming scenes by an original score, composed by Amelia Warner.

Ridley also provides a layer of good humor as her character learns to ignore the gender fueled obstinance and blend in with the male athletes equally enthralled by the challenge of crossing the English Channel from the coast of France.

Stephen Graham provides the supporting role as accomplished English Channel swimmer Bill Burgess. Burgess earns a living off the successful crossing, but, as the challengers line up to duplicate the feat, he reaches out to help Trudy accomplish what no other woman has.

Jeannette Hain as Gertrude Ederle shows Trudy’s mother as supportive and determined and perhaps the main reason Trudy is eventually able to break the gender barriers and stereotypes.

Disney promoted the film well in advance of the release dates, but the studio changed strategy mid-stream and went from a streaming release to a theatrical release to a streaming release, while suffering a bit from uncontrolled versions of what is fact and and what is fiction about this true story.

Young Woman and the Sea is streaming on Disney+.