Fly Like a Girl

This insightful, inspiring documentary showcases women aviators who've proven time and time again that flying isn't just for boys and men. By framing the film around young Florida girl Afton Kinkade, an aspiring aviator, Fly Like a Girl is able to show how it's not just the very earliest women pilots who made history. Even in the 1990s and 2000s, women were still breaking barriers, fighting in combat, earning medals, and winning competitions for the first time. All of the women interviewed have fascinating stories. Armour, whose nickname in the Marines apparently was "Fly Girl," is particularly compelling while telling the harrowing story of a mission. Nonagenarian Haydu is fascinating and her story educational: Even many adults likely haven't heard of the WASP initiative and how its pilots were deprived of their full military standing for decades.

Perhaps the only quibble is that with so many women to feature, viewers might wish they had more time to delve into their individual stories, rather than getting snapshots of each one. It's difficult not to want to immediately look up their backgrounds and accomplishments. Wagstaff's incredible aerobatics, Stott's space walk, Duckworth's disciplined service, and Waiz's around-the-world trip are all worthy of fuller investigation. At least Fly Like a Girl shares their names and outstanding achievements with a broad audience. All of them are aware of -- and, in some cases, have experienced -- systemic and personal sexism and discrimination against their abilities. But they persisted, and now Kinkade, like all girls her age, has so many more role models than the generations who came before her.