Iron Ladies of Liberia (2007) (review)

Siatta Scott Johnson and Daniel Junge's 2007 film Iron Ladies of Liberia opens with dramatic footage of the civil war that raged for fourteen years, and in the word of narrator Siatta Scott Johnson, "stole my childhood and left so many of us with nothing." But this documentary is not a rehash of past wrongs perpetrated on the people of Liberia by exiled president, Charles Taylor, and his government. Rather, Johnson's film focuses on the presidency of eponymous iron lady, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, whose 2005 victory over odds-on favorite George Weah, Liberia's well-known soccer star, surprised everyone. Covering the first year of Liberia and the African continent's first female president, journalist Johnson details the challenges Sirleaf's administration faces in governing a country with a 90% unemployment rate, no running water or electricity, and a debt thirty times the national budget. In spite of these staggering problems, Sirleaf begins boldly, appointing women as Ministers of Commerce, Finance, Justice, and Chief of Police, because women were not connected to the kind of corruption and violence associated with of many of the men from Taylor's previous administration.

President Sirleaf's first action was to clear the streets of unregistered market booths, a move that angered many of the women who elected her who rely on this trade for the livelihood of themselves and their families. Meeting with an angry mob of women and the press, the president, Minister of Commerce, and female police chief explain that this change is necessary in order to make it possible to have normal car traffic in the streets. Sirleaf promises to construct regulated market locations elsewhere. Other difficult issues include the presence of opposition from supporters of former President Taylor in Sirleaf's government and systemic corruption in the government. Sirleaf organizes a team to institute land reform and to clean up the Ministry of Finance, which must deal with the fact that the three million citizens of Liberia owe a collective debt of $3.7 billion to creditors worldwide.

Interspersed with discussion of these substantive issues and footage of meetings with various constituencies and international bank officials, brief glimpses of the streets and neighborhoods offer insights into daily activities of ordinary Liberians. One scene in particular comments on the aftermath of civil war by simply showing agroup of young boys playing soccer, even though they are missing various limbs. Some shots show a broken bridge or the mounds of trash along the water's edge in the capital city of Monrovia. Working with creditors, the president and minister of finance eventually achieve a moving victory when Sirleaf meets with President Bush, whose administration forgives Liberia's debt to the United States.

In a meeting with Firestone workers and officials, we witness both the diplomacy and the "iron" of President Sirleaf. The workers who have gone on strike show their windowless hovels to her, and she in turn tells the executives of Firestone that "there is no reason for the Firestone workers to live under the conditions in which they live." While she stands up to the bosses, she also tells the workers the truth that she will probably not be able to get the 37.5% salary increase that former President Taylor had promised them. This causes disappointment, but tells the workers that she nonetheless maintains a commitment to improve their housing, education, and pay.

This documentary also shows her in a similar conflict with soldiers who have blocked the streets in protest over not receiving pensions and back pay. Meeting with them, she listens to their complaints respectfully in what she calls the "Old Ma" way. Then, she tells them of people in villages who say, "You are paying the same people who beat us! The same people who kicked us! The same people who put us in jail! The same people who killed us!" Their response is an astonishing statement that "as of tomorrow you won't see...