Plot
U.K. gay activists work to help miners during their lengthy strike of the National Union of Mineworkers in the summer of 1984.
Release Year: 2014
Rating: 8.2/10 (1,720 voted)
Critic's Score: 80/100
Director: Matthew Warchus
Stars: Bill Nighy, Imelda Staunton, Dominic West
Storyline
U.K. gay activists work to help miners during their lengthy strike of the National Union of Mineworkers in the summer of 1984.
Cast: Ben Schnetzer -
Mark
Abram Rooney -
Young Guy
Jim McManus -
Old Man
George MacKay -
Joe
Monica Dolan -
Marion
Matthew Flynn -
Tony
Andrew Scott -
Gethin
Joseph Gilgun -
Mike
Faye Marsay -
Steph
Freddie Fox -
Jeff
Lucy Timmons -
Woman with Little Girl
Jordan Metcalfe -
Charlie
Roger Morlidge -
Wardrobe Master
Dean Ashton -
Young Man
Chris Overton -
Reggie
Goofs:
The people of the real Welsh village weren't as naive or 'valleys' as portrayed. See more »
User Review
Author:
Rating: 9/10
Probably few things have divided the British people more in the last
forty years than Margaret Thatcher's time as Conservative leader. The
pivot point for that hatred/worship was the protracted dispute with the
National Union of Mineworkers in 1984/85. Arthur Scargill led the
miners in a fight to the death against pit closures and their way of
life; Maggie Thatcher led the government and establishment that could
never afford to lose that battle. Britain would have been a very very
different place if history's dice had fallen differently.
It would make a great movie. But "Pride" isn't it.
Whilst based on a surprising true story and whilst the politics of the
strike forms the backdrop to the story, politics itself doesn't really
rear its head in the film (other than the rather one-sided perspective
of the miners that they were 'right' and the Thatcher and police in
general were 'evil'). Instead, this is really a study of the enormous
prejudice and real physical danger faced by the gay and lesbian
community in London and the country in general.
George MacKay ("Sunshine on Leith") plays "Bromley" (real name Joe) a
20-year old (so therefore under-age at the time) who is a closet gay.
He lives a normal suburban middle-class life with his unsuspecting
parents whilst also supporting the LGSM ('Lesbians and Gays Support the
Miners') action group. This is led by Mark Ashton (Ben Schnetzer, "The
Book Thief"), who drives forward the goal of raising financial aid for
the striking miners' families. Helping him are his assorted friends
including gay couple Jonathan and Gethin (Dominic West and the
brilliant Andrew "Moriaty" Scott), Mike (Joseph Gilgun), Jeff
(Freddie Fox) and Steph (Faye Marsay "I'm the 'L' in LGSM!").
The irony is that the miners are generally speaking the most homophobic
group that they could ever hope to find, so the union wants nothing to
do with them or their money. Through necessity, the group focuses on
one small Welsh village and on turning the community (their attitude
that is!) to accept them and their gifts. Even this reduced scope
proves to be an uphill struggle.
Whilst this is first and foremost a 'comedy drama', a menacing presence
in the film is the AIDS virus: this was a time before retroviruses,
when being diagnosed HIV-positive was a short and dark path to the
graveside. Yet at a time when thousands were dying of the disease,
Jonathan has the alternative moniker of "Number 2" the second person
in the country to be diagnosed as HIV-positive but mysteriously still
alive.
The film is a tour de force of British acting talent. In particular
(give or take the odd dodgy accent) the characters who make up the
Welsh community are all superb: Paddy Considine ("Hot Fuzz", "The
Bourne Ultimatum") plays the open and reasonable envoy first sent to
London to meet LGSM; Bill Nighy in a quiet and understated performance
(yes, you heard me right) plays Cliff; Imelda Staunton plays the
hilarious role of Hefina, leader of the committee group; Jessica
Gunning is pitch-perfect as Sian a tea lady with a feisty attitude
and Maureen (Lisa Palfrey) is a delightfully unlikable homophobic
miner's wife who stokes trouble with contemptuous glee. Finally, a good
share of the comic lines go to the marvelous Menna Trussler as the
bespectacled old dear Gwen.
Both MacKay and Schnetzer head up the younger end of the cast
admirably: I was very rude about Schnetzer's performance in my "Book
Thief" review, but he is a revelation in this film. Andrew Scott is as
magnetic as always, and Dominic West shines as the nearest to Simon
Callow's memorable "Four Wedding's " character that we've seen,
swapping "Bloody Brigadoon" Scottish dancing for lively disco-led
moves.
Matthew Warchus, better known as a Broadway director and a relative
stranger to the film set, directs with verve and style. The comic
timing delivered through the final edit is very sharp. And the pathos
and tragedy is handled very sensitively but very powerfully: there were
a number of ladies in the cinema I saw who were in floods of tears when
the lights came up. (Also, as a further warning for tissue supplies to
take into the cinema, if like me you have a Welsh other half then the
combination of panoramic Welsh landscapes and (very moving) close
harmony singing will trigger severe homeland-sickness: you can take the
girl out of Wales, but ).
This film came close to perfect. But I had a few issues with the
(generally excellent) script by Stephen Beresford. The reason for
Mark's dramatic change of heart in the middle of the film was rather
poorly explained (if explained at all). And was it me or did one of
Maureen's rabidly homophobic sons do a U-turn in appearing with the
other miners at the (remarkably, historically correct) gay pride march
at the end of the film? If so, this seems to be an unnecessary and
Hollywood-style candy-coating too far.
Above all, for me this is a film that both highlights how far we have
come in thirty years in the area of gay rights and perhaps how far
there still is to go. As a particularly touching example, seeing how
difficult it was for the teenage Joe to come out to his parents in 1985
made me realise it is probably almost as hard today as it was then.
Whilst levels of both expectation and acceptance are higher today, it
is still a hard conversation to have "Perhaps you'd like me to take
you to the cinema to see a film Mum and Dad?".
(If you enjoyed this review, please see my other reviews at
bob-the-movie-man.com and sign up to "Follow the Fad". Thanks.)
Storyline The determined Jim Ellis starts a swim team for troubled teens at the Philadelphia Department of Recreation.
Writers: Kevin Michael Smith, Michael Gozzard
Cast: Terrence Howard
-
Jim Ellis
Bernie Mac
-
Elston
Kimberly Elise
-
Sue Davis
Tom Arnold
-
Bink
Brandon Fobbs
-
Puddin Head
Alphonso McAuley
-
Walt
Regine Nehy
-
Willie
Nate Parker
-
Hakim
Kevin Phillips
-
Andre
Scott Eastwood
-
Jake
(as Scott Reeves)
Evan Ross
-
Reggie
Gary Anthony Sturgis
-
Franklin
(as Gary Sturgis)
Jesse Moore
-
Artrell (Willie's Father)
Carol Sutton
-
Ophelia (Andre's Mother)
Tony Bentley
-
Race Official (UOFB)
(as Tony Bently)
Filming Locations: Louisiana State University - Highland Road & Dalrymple Drive, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA
Gross: $7,036,608
(USA)
(22 April 2007)
Technical Specs
Runtime:
USA:
|
Germany:
(European Film Market)
Did You Know?
Trivia:
The journal that the character of Puddin Head writes in is actor Brandon Fobbs's actual personal journal.
Goofs:
Continuity:
During the final butterfly event, the digital display shows the order in which the teams finished. However, a moment later the announcer switches the order of the second and third place teams.
Quotes: Jim Ellis:
My life is way too short for me to spend my time around people who don't care about nothin'.
User Review
Why Can't People Be Honest Anymore?
Rating: 5/10
I'm giving this movie a 5 out of 10. Sorry to those that think every
movie that doesn't win an Oscar deserves less than a 3 on a scale of
ten. But seriously, why can't people be honest or think rationally
anymore? I don't care how much this movie lacked, whether in acting or
script, the feeling that I felt leaving the theater may not have left
me in complete satisfaction, but I felt happy and good inside. Is there
something wrong with just feeling good now? I understand where the
criticism comes from, which is why I don't rate this higher. The script
was all over the place; sometimes you didn't know what was going on or
why. Tom Arnold was more annoying to watch than anyone else, the fact
that Mainline scheduled no-name recreation centers for their opponents
sounds unbelievable, Franklin's so called gangster status was
unconvincing (not to mention seeing what he did to pool was
disgusting), and even Terrence Howard sounded way too corny at times.
But COME ON! This isn't a 1.7 out of ten kind of movie. Bernie Mac was
hilarious for the first time in a while, the setting and music was very
accurate and good, and the swimming scenes were real and believable.
People need to think about what they saw before giving movies such bad
reviews. It doesn't matter how bad some of the recent movies have been,
but there are about 10 movies from the last two years in the bottom 100
movies of all time! WHAT? Be honest. Give some of these movies a
chance. And for some of those who are wondering, I'm white, so I'm not
"defending by race" either. I think this movie is somewhat worth it,
definitely watchable and, although I would not recommend this overly, I
think that someone could get a lot out of this movie.
0