In a lot of ways, this reminds me of Pride. Let’s see here… British period piece about a labor strike. Features a group of people who are historically overlooked and underestimated. Despite its powerful subject matter, has an overall buoyant feeling that’s deftly reeled in when it needs to be. Strong message of unity and the triumph of the little guy/woman in the face of pretty big odds. Yep – definitely familiar!
In 1968, the all-female group of machinists working at the Ford plant in Dagenham complain about their work being relabeled as “unskilled labor,” with the pay cut to go along with it. The women, led by the quiet but strong-willed Rita, go on strike, but soon, it becomes about more than a classification, an individual factory, or even an individual profession. Rita sets her sights on a far bigger goal: gender pay equality.
As I said, this movie takes a predominantly light tone, but it does get serious when the job calls for it, particularly when it comes to Rita and the other women looking to their husbands to support their movement, as the women in turn supported their husbands in previous strikes. While it doesn’t shy away from the struggles or the injustice, it also has a lot of humor and knows how to have fun. I can understand that some may find this attitude flippant, as if a women’s labor movement is more “frivolous” than that of their male counterparts, but that’s not how I see it. For me, it’s more about showing the indomitable spirit of these machinists, who lean on one another and find ways to laugh even in hard times. When one of them staggers under the weight of what they’re up against, the others rally around her and bolster her up, lending her the strength to keep going, and I think that’s really cool.
Sally Hawkins (a former Anne from Persuasion, and she has a lesbian Victoriana twofer under her belt, having appeared in Tipping the Velvetand starred in Fingersmith) is tailor-made for Rita. She can bring a lot of force to her performance, but she does it with this little voice and this unassuming nature. At the start of the film, she doesn’t think of herself as a person who can speak up, but she does it anyway because she just can’t abide continuing in silence. Watching her, you see Rita discovering what she’s capable of at the same time that you do. Really great work.
The rest of the cast is packed with familiar British faces. For Harry Potter alumni alone, there’s Miranda Richardson (Rita Skeeter – but more importantly, Queenie!), Geraldine James (Lily Potter,) and Roger Lloyd-Pack (Barty Crouch, Jr.) We also have Rosamund Pike (Amy from Gone Girl, a former Pride and Prejudice Jane,) Rupert Graves (Lestrade on Sherlock,) a young blink-and-you’ll-miss-him Robbie Kay (Peter Pan on Once Upon a Time,) Richard Schiff, Bob Hoskins, Daniel Mays (from “Night Terrors” in series 6 of Who,) and Andrea Riseborough (Angelica from The Devil’s Whore.) Continued proof that two degrees is the farthest any living British actor can be from any other.
Warnings
Language, light sexual content, and drinking/smoking.
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