Starring: Ben Schnetzer, Joseph Gilgun, Faye Marsay, George MacKay, Bill Nighy, Imelda Stauton, Paddy Considine
Summary: It’s 1984, and the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), led by Arthur Scargill, has called a strike against the British Government. The approach Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher took towards the miners was hard-line and ultimately unfair before and during the strike, resulting in pit closures and the loss of thousands of jobs. The strike lasted for a year.
Pride begins a few months into the Miners’ Strike, on the day of the London Pride March. After following the reports of the strike and realising that, like the fair majority of LGBT+ people in the 80s, the miners despise Thatcher, Mark Ashton (Ben Schnetzer) and his friends set up LGSM – Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners. They contact a small mining village in South Wales and begin to raise money for the families affected by the strike.
The touching theme of this film, one that takes it above and beyond any other political film I’ve seen, is the support within the two different communities for the other. Mark tells Dai (Paddy Considine) – one of the miners who welcomes LGSM into his home – that he doesn’t understand the people who support rights for one community of people and not another, believing instead that all people should be viewed as equal. This is expressed throughout the film and is cemented at the end, when the 1985 Pride march is led by LGSM and the miners, who march in solidarity and gratitude. It is explained that after this, the Labour Party incorporated LGBT+ rights into their manifesto, following the block support from the NUM.
This is a film about friendship, solidarity and equality in times of mutual hardships. It’s about having pride for who you are and the environment you’re in. And, most importantly, it’s about standing up against oppression.
Watch If You Liked: Billy Elliot, Boys From the Blackstuff
Rating: 10/10. This is, without a doubt, one of the best films I have ever seen. It’s brave, empowering, poignant, and depicts the power in a union. It simply must be watched.
Words by Caitlin O’Connor