If you only go and see one film this year, make it this quietly powerful tribute to people power and self-belief.
'The Pit and the
people are one and the same.'
It's 1984 and
the miners are on strike. I remember it happening. I remember watching the
television news and seeing picket lines being battered and split by the
imported battalions of the Metropolitan Police's Special Patrol Group. I was at
art college in Maidstone, trying to work out what I wanted from life and who I
was, and The Smiths and Frankie Goes To Hollywood were on Top of the Pops.
That's pretty
much where Pride starts. Like most films that deal with this kind of
social history, we then follow a young ingenue on his/her rite of passage, in
this case Joe (George MacKay), or 'Bromley' as he's known throughout. He
tentatively joins a polticised group of gay people from Brixton during June
1984's Gay Pride demo, and their charismatc ringleader Mark Ashton (Ben Schnetzer)
later suggests that to stick it to PM Margaret Thatcher and forge solidarity
with another persecuted minority, they start collecting money for the strikers
as Lesbian and Gays Support the Miners - LGSM.
So far so good,
but Pride then turns into a story you really couldn't make up. Beyond
the 1980s nostalgia - those fashions are accurate. I should know: I wore them -
this film is about really important stuff, namely breaking down bigotry and
prejudice, not being frightened of what other people think and standing up for
your beliefs when you're bullied. Yes, it is about the initially awkward coming
together of London's gay community and the Welsh miners and what each group
learns from the other, but it's also a metaphor for anyone who's ever been
victimised for what they've stood up for. Moreover, the film does it without
being preachy and right-on and with a massive red dildo and a dirty Welsh laugh
never very far away.
'We're off to
Swansea for a massive les-off.'
The film is full
of everyone's favourite actors. Paddy Considine and Bill Nighy are quiet and
dignified as open-minded Welshmen; the great Dominic West is highly
entertaining, never more so than when he shows the miners and their families
how to disco dance in the scene that'll be shown on all the clips shows, and
Imelda Staunton is fiesty and believable as a principled support committee
member. In less showy roles, Faye Marsay (Steph), the suddenly very
busy Liz White and, particularly, Andrew Scott as the exiled Gethin - patching
things up with his estranged mother after sixteen years and on the receiving
end of what used to be called 'gay bashing' - are all exceptional. A special
mention, too, for Russell Tovey's terrifying cameo as Tim, an AIDS victim who's
'not been home for four days' and is on 'a farewell tour'.
While the broad
sweep of Pride is worth the price of admission, it's the keenly observed
period details which help to make it such a winner. Bromley's very out gay
mates don't give him a hard time because he pretends to his parents he's been
on a pastry-making course when he's out fundraising with them; Mark is told
'there are no gay artists on this label' in the reception of a record company
which has posters of Elton John and Soft Cell on its walls and dear old Mary
Whitehouse, the moral bete noire of everyone from Dr. Who to
David Bowie, even gets a mention. In a quietly powerful moment, Nighy and
Staunton are seen buttering sandwiches which have no fillings, which tells you
all you need to know about how far the miners were from starving - only thirty
years ago. My favourite joke in the film is at LGSM's Electric Ballroom
fundraising gig, when a London drag queen appears done up as 'Martha Scargill'.
'Didn't you hear
about the miners, dearie? They lost.'
What's paticularly
commendable about Pride is that while it bangs the drum for two defining
'80s causes, it doesn't shy away from opposing points of view. Maureen Barry (played by Lisa Palfrey), disgusted by the LGSM's support, could have been a walking cliche, but
her only real crime is ignorance; she's also concerned about her two sons and
afraid of the strikers being ridiculed in the right-wing press - ironically,
considering she sells the story about LGSM to The Sun. In the gay
community, quite a few of Mark and Gethin's friends refuse to help because of
the abuse they received growing up in Wales and when the latter is fundraising
on the streets, he's bluntly told he should be collecting for the 'gay people
[who] are dying every day.'
As a corollary
of the LGSM's activism, lesbian and gay rights were enshrined in the Labour
manifesto, largely through a block vote from the Mineworkers' Union. Looked at
from 2014 where gay marriage is an accepted part of everyday life and I can go
with my Mum to see a film like this, what the LGSM and the miners achieved
really is bloody amazing.
Pride is a modern
fairytrale, except - a lot of - it actually happened. Go see.
Great review. One of my favourite films of 2014
ReplyDeleteCheers Fiona. One of my mum's favourite's, too.
ReplyDelete