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Men In Black 3

It’s not a sequel that needed to be made, but thanks to the charm of its leads and a tone that harks back to the wit and humour of the original, it’s a pretty enjoyable trip.

Bel Ami

The excellent female support cast saves this patchy effort, which is let down by its leading man and a flat screenplay.

The Dictator

A disappointing, often repulsive and mean-spirited mess of a film with seemingly only one real criterion on its agenda: to shock and offend.

The Woman In Black

Packed with atmosphere, this old-fashioned but deftly told ghost story delivers ample chills and thrills.

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Made In Dagenham (Film)

by Mark Demetrius | October 25, 2010 10:20 | Edited October 25, 2010 11:21

While slightly formulaic, for the most past this finely acted drama is revealing and compelling.

1968 was, famously, a year of turmoil and attempted revolution: there were The Paris May Riots, huge anti-Vietnam War demos, amongst others. This film concerns itself with a less spectacular and hip rebellion, in which female machinists at the Ford car plant in Dagenham, East London, went on strike. They were the only women - 187 of them -
among 40,000-odd employees. Their goal was (at least in hindsight) an indisputably just one: equal pay for equal work.   

 

The sense of time and place is quite strong here, and is augmented by a lot of second-division period pop music on the soundtrack. Sally Hawkins plays Rita O'Grady, a gutsy "factory girl" who finds herself - very nervously at first - taking centre stage in the campaign. Just about all the strong roles here are female, from Secretary Of State Barbara Castle (Miranda Richardson) to Lisa Hopkins (Rosamund Pike), an upper class housewife who is nonetheless on the side of the angels. The men tend to be malevolent bastards or feckless buffoons, the exceptions being Bob Hoskins as a slightly too saintly union rep, and Daniel Mays as Rita's loving and supportive husband, Eddie. 

 

Made In Dagenham is a simple story, which could well have been a sub-Full Monty cliche-fest, and there are certainly formulaic elements and the customary "salt of the earth" sentimentalising of the working class. But overall it's a bit better than that, thanks to a raft of impressive performances, compelling and moving subplots, and scenes showing the economic and relationship costs of industrial action which move beyond the obvious. It's a pity, though, about the sycophantic disclaimer at the end telling us what democratic paragons Ford have since become.