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Made in Dagenham
There could hardly be anything more exotic and unfamiliar in mainstream commercial cinema than the story of a successful strike. But this is what screenwriter Billy Ivory and director Nigel Cole give us with their broad, primary-coloured, good-humoured comedy – almost, but not exactly, a shopfloor version of Calendar Girls (2003), also directed by Cole. Made in Dagenham is based on the Ford women car workers' strike of 1968, in which female staff sewing seat covers for Cortinas and Zephyrs went on strike for the same wage as the men. This commanded headlines, galvanised the political debate, and indirectly led to the Equal Pay Act of 1970.
It stars Sally Hawkins as Rita, confident and forthright as the ordinary working mum who finds herself elevated to the position of striker-spokeswoman, battling not merely against the bosses but the smug chaps' club in general: employers and trade unionists getting ready to stitch up a duplicitous compromise behind her back. Miranda Richardson plays Barbara Castle, the cabinet minister not-so-secretly sympathetic to the women strikers and exasperated at the ambiguous evasions of her own boss, Harold Wilson, played in cameo by John Sessions.
I sometimes wish it was not marketed quite so aggressively with the "feelgood" tag. Some may find it a little saccharine and feel that it sticks a little too closely to the Calendar Girls template. But there's something else going on here. In its jaunty and insouciant way, this is actually pretty subversive: a film about strikers who are not evil, or deluded, or indeed defeated? What an idea! Compare it to, say, Mark Herman's Brassed Off from 1996: saving the colliery band is the key thing, but mine closures themselves are a given. In Stephen Daldry's Billy Elliot, protecting Billy's future in ballet is the vital point. In these films, courageous and quixotic adventures are the heartwarming and defiant exceptions to a general workers' defeat.
Made in Dagenham goes against the bittersweet/miserablist grain. The striking women achieve inspirational self-respect and they win their strike as well. And even given that this film is set in the period before Britain's industrial slide, equal pay for women can hardly be blamed. These women are shown teaming up, and fighting effectively for a principle which is now a bedrock for all our workplaces; the film's cheerful demeanour might grate, but it might be not far from the mood that the striking women thought it expedient to adopt at the time. Maybe feeling good isn't that inappropriate.
From a review by Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian
It stars Sally Hawkins as Rita, confident and forthright as the ordinary working mum who finds herself elevated to the position of striker-spokeswoman, battling not merely against the bosses but the smug chaps' club in general: employers and trade unionists getting ready to stitch up a duplicitous compromise behind her back. Miranda Richardson plays Barbara Castle, the cabinet minister not-so-secretly sympathetic to the women strikers and exasperated at the ambiguous evasions of her own boss, Harold Wilson, played in cameo by John Sessions.
I sometimes wish it was not marketed quite so aggressively with the "feelgood" tag. Some may find it a little saccharine and feel that it sticks a little too closely to the Calendar Girls template. But there's something else going on here. In its jaunty and insouciant way, this is actually pretty subversive: a film about strikers who are not evil, or deluded, or indeed defeated? What an idea! Compare it to, say, Mark Herman's Brassed Off from 1996: saving the colliery band is the key thing, but mine closures themselves are a given. In Stephen Daldry's Billy Elliot, protecting Billy's future in ballet is the vital point. In these films, courageous and quixotic adventures are the heartwarming and defiant exceptions to a general workers' defeat.
Made in Dagenham goes against the bittersweet/miserablist grain. The striking women achieve inspirational self-respect and they win their strike as well. And even given that this film is set in the period before Britain's industrial slide, equal pay for women can hardly be blamed. These women are shown teaming up, and fighting effectively for a principle which is now a bedrock for all our workplaces; the film's cheerful demeanour might grate, but it might be not far from the mood that the striking women thought it expedient to adopt at the time. Maybe feeling good isn't that inappropriate.
From a review by Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian
16th September 2011
Sally Hawkins
Rita O'Grady
Bob Hoskins
Albert
Miranda Richardson
Barbara Castle
Geraldine James
Connie
Rosamund Pike
Lisa
Andrea Riseborough
Brenda
Rita O'Grady
Bob Hoskins
Albert
Miranda Richardson
Barbara Castle
Geraldine James
Connie
Rosamund Pike
Lisa
Andrea Riseborough
Brenda