Pride

Sat, 02/27/2016 - 2:36pm by ballybeg

A marvelously entertaining and uplifting film, Pride (Blu-ray here; DVD here) was released in 2014, but I missed it until a friend recently suggested it to me. You shouldn’t miss this one either, for: the amazing true story, the outstanding acting with a relatively young and unknown cast (notable exceptions would be Bill Nighy and Imelda Staunton who are well-known, seasoned British character actors), the beautiful vocal selections, the hilarious interactions between Welsh villagers and gay activists, a dance number which will have you on your feet, and the ending which will have you cheering.

During the miners’ strike in Great Britain in 1984, which lasted a full year and pushed miners and their families to the edge, a group of lesbian and gay activists in London decided to express their support for the miners by raising much needed funds. They felt a common bond with the oppressed miners against a common adversary: prejudice. (Neither group was overly fond of Margaret Thatcher either.)

Gay liberation had not advanced very far in the early eighties and the miners’ union rejected help from the gay community. But, undeterred, the young and idealistic group took their buckets of money straight to a small village in Wales to give to the miners and their families directly. How they were received there is partly predictable and partly pure magic. Suffice to say that every person involved was changed by encountering the other.

Enjoy the Welsh accents, but I suggest you have on the subtitles so you don't miss a single, hilarious line.