AllMovie

The autobiography of New Zealand fearless political activist Sonja Davies was the source for the two-part, four-hour miniseries Bread and Roses. Genevieve Picot stars as Davies, who entered the world as an illegitimate outcast, a fate exacerbated by her divorce at age 17. Though shunned by "polite" society, the pregnant Davies managed to become a trainee nurse at the outbreak of WWII. Appalled by the hypocrisies of the world and the exigencies of sexual stereotyping, Davies became a dedicated socialist, literally coming of age by spearheading the women's rights movement of the mid-'50s. Along the way, she endured innumerable tragedies and heartbreaks, but she never gave up fighting the good fight. Produced by Preston-Liang Productions, Bread and Roses was widely distributed in English-speaking countries after its original New ZealandTV run in 1994.