Common Sense Media Review
By Jennifer Green
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Short docu examines filmmaker's life; some mature themes.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 10+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Watch
Videos and Photos
Julia's Stepping Stones
What's the Story?
JULIA'S STEPPING STONES tells a condensed version of the life story and politicization of the film's director and subject, Julia Reichert. Born and raised in a working-class family in New Jersey, Reichert describes discovering her class status when she went away to college and found herself surrounded by wealthier, more prepared classmates. She ended up dropping out, and then returning to school and graduating in 1970 with a thesis film she and her soon-to-be-husband edited and distributed themselves, traveling by Greyhound across the United States. Over photographs and some videos from the time periods described, Reichert recalls her process of becoming politically aware through her studies and participation in social movements. The film ends at the point in her life when her career was just beginning.
Is It Any Good?
The subject of this short film will be familiar only to niche audiences, which doesn't detract from the value of sharing her unique life story but could limit the movie's appeal. Indie filmmaker Julia Reichert, the title subject of Julia's Stepping Stones, passed away in 2022, before she had completed this autobiographical short. Her partner, Steven Bognar, finished it instead. Reichert lived at once an ordinary and an extraordinary life. Ordinary, because many women of her class and generation experienced similar upbringings and faced parallel barriers—in fact, this is the subject of her own first film, Growing Up Female.
Her life was extraordinary because she actively fought barriers of sex, class, and race, first by joining the burgeoning women's liberation movement, and then by becoming an independent filmmaker, producer, and distributor taking on social justice topics. This short film has intrinsic value as a first-person historical document, and as a companion piece to Reichert's own filmography. However, it's a disappointment that all that we see of her contemporarily is from behind, while she talks on the telephone, even as we're offered plenty of photos of her younger self. It's the one place where the 32-minute short feels incomplete. That's assuming that leaving off where her career begins was a conscious choice; if not, then the incompleteness of the film is part of the story.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about what they learned about the subject of Julia's Stepping Stones, Julia Reichert, and about the historical period in which she grew up and came of age.
Did this 32-minute film feel complete to you? How so, or what was missing for you?
Have you watched any of Reichert's films? How do they fit with what you learned about her here? Where could you go for more information?
Movie Details
- On DVD or streaming : December 18, 2024
- Cast : Julia Reichert
- Directors : Julia Reichert , Steven Bognar
- Inclusion Information : Female Movie Actor(s)
- Studio : Netflix
- Genre : Documentary
- Topics : Activism , History
- Run time : 32 minutes
- MPAA rating :
- MPAA explanation : thematic elements, smoking and some suggestive material
- Last updated : September 18, 2025
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