Pride

13 August 2018

Pride 2014

• Director: Stephen Poliakoff
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Bill Nighy, Imelda Staunton, Dominic West, Paddy Considine, Ben Schnetzer, George Mackay, Andrew Scott, Faye Marsay, Menna Trussler, Jessica Gunning, Lisa Palfrey
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Bill Nighy – Hotel Marigold 1 & 2, Gideon’s Daughter, The World’s End, About Time, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows 1, Doctor Who, The Boat that Rocked, Valkyria, Pirates of the Caribbean, Hot Fuzz, Notes on a Scandal, The Constant Gardener, The Girl in the Café, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Shaun of the Dead, Auf Wiedersehen Pet, Kiss Me Kate, Longitude
• Imelda Staunton – Doctor Who, Harry Potter, Another Year, Cranford, Taking Woodstock, Freedom Writers, A Midsummer Night’s Dream Re-Told, Nanny McPhee, Vera Drake, Bright Young Things, David Copperfield, Shakespeare in Love, Twelfth Night, Sense and Sensibility, Much Ado about Nothing, Peter’s Friends
• Dominic West – Genius, Testament of Youth, From Time to Time, The Wire, Mona Lisa’s Smile, Chicago, 28 Days, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Richard III
• Paddy Considine – The Girl with All the Gifts, Macbeth, The World’s End, Hot Fuzz, My Summer of Love, In America, 24 Hour Party People, Born Romantic
• Ben Schnetzer – The Book Thief
• George Mackay – Sunshine of Leith, Defiance
• Andrew Scott – Sherlock, The Hollow Crown, Alice in Wonderland, Spectre, Longitude, Saving Private Ryan
• Jessica Gunning – Fortitude, Doctor Who
• Why? Bill Nighy and Imelda Staunton
• Seen: 10 August 2018

             Having recently been in Wales and London this offers a touch of nostalgia. Having taken part in an anti-Trump demonstration in Cardiff and applauded a group of elderly musicians commemorating Welsh volunteers to the Spanish Civil War, we decide that a political film feels right for this Friday evening.

       Any film that starts with Pete Seeger singing ‘Solidarity Forever’ gets lots of stars. There is a miners’ strike going on in Great Britain in 1984 (we’ve all seen Billy Elliot, and remember the strike as it took place) and a Pride parade in London.

       Two oppressed groups, harassed by the police, Thatcher and haters. A tiny group of gays starts collecting money to support the strike. It’s not easy. But eventually, despite qualms on both sides, the LGSM (Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners) are invited by the Strike Committee in a small town in southern Wales to visit.

       It could just as well be aliens and Earthlings, though which is which is hard to say. But even aliens and Earthlings can find common ground. Even become…friends?

       And then there was AIDS.

       So not completely feel-good. But almost. What a gem of a film.

5 * of 5