Review: "Sally"

In an age when any millionaire can go to space, women can vie for any career, and being gay shouldn't result in public ridicule or hate, Sally Ride's story reminds us of a different time.

Sally tells that story, using those closest to her to fill in the pieces that Ride intentionally left blank on her own life tale. As one interviewee puts it, how sad that a person admired so broadly felt she had to hide such an important part of herself from the public eye.

What is disclosed here provides interesting insights into Ride's personality as well as the rarified life experience of an astronaut.

She is described as competitive, cocky, rough around the edges, and intensely private about her emotions—characteristics that, it's said, made her exceptional at work and difficult at home. She "lived on her own terms," even despite intense media scrutiny.

Footage of press conferences singling her out among her colleagues for overtly sexist questions is downright embarrassing by today's standards.

The film makes its point and is engaging and informative. What could potentially have been weeded out are gratuitous dramatizations of past events.

Read the full review at Common Sense Media.

Images courtesy of Disney+.