In the summer of 1984 when London’s annual Gay Pride Pride was taking place Mark Ashton (Ben Schnetzer) a young passionate activist (who eerily looked like Morrissey from The Smiths) decided that he wanted to form a Gay & Lesbian group to help support the country’s distressed and embattled miners. U.K. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was determined to break the stronghold of the Unions and so had deliberately confronted them with her aggressive and somewhat inhumane demands that left them with no option but to come out on strike to save their jobs and their very existence.
Mark’s pleas to the burgeoning gay community fell mainly on deaf ears as the vast majority were simply relieved that for once they were not the main targets of excessive police harassment. He did however manage to gather together a small handful of like-minded guys ….. and one lone lesbian. They were not all as extreme and politically savvy as him and their numbers included a sweet 20-year-old closeted boy called Joe who still lived at home with middle-class parents in the suburbs.
The reluctance of the gay community in London to donate money is as strong as that of the Mining community who really did not want to take funds from a bunch of gay people. The two groups were polar opposites and were essentially ignorant of each other. Then as luck would have it the Gay Support Group come across a one-street mining village in the heart of South Wales who have a Union Organizer who is prepared to think outside of the box. When Dai (Paddy Considine) visits the Group in London, he is persuaded to make a speech from the stage of a gay club and after his stirring words the walls of Jericho start to come tumbling down, albeit slowly.
The group still has to get through their first visit to the Miners Social Club back in desolate Onllwyn but amongst all the fear, panic, distrust and loathing from these working-class families, there are a handful of locals who are determined that these gay people who have given them so much should be treated with both respect and gratitude and not just merely tolerated.In the hands of acclaimed theatre director Matthew Warchus and actor-turned-writer Stephen Beresford this very true story with its dark subject matter has been fictionalized and made it into one of the most joyous and feel-good quintessentially British comedies we have seen for a long time. By using broad humor with some great outrageous one-liners Beresford has taken the sting out of the double-whammy of the tragic plight of the miners and the intolerance that the gay community suffered from all quarters in those days and made us laugh out loud.
Some truly gifted performances make this movie the delight that it is. It will be hard to forget Imelda Staunton (‘Vera Drake’) as Hefina the staunchest supporter of the gay group as she screams out of the van window that she is ‘off to Swansea for a massive lez off!’. Bill Nighy (‘Love Actually’) for once underplays his role as the Miner’s Club quiet educated Secretary who has been harboring his own secret for years. Dominic West (‘The Wire’) dons a dreadful wig as Jonathan an actor turned activist does a stunning disco dance to the envy of some of the Miners. And two of the younger leads are real scene stealers: George MacKay (‘Defiance’) as Joe the student who is so empowered by this new experience he can finally leave home and the equally talented Ben Schnetzer (‘The Book Thief’) as Mark the passionate activist who wanted to make a big difference.
As it is set in Wales there is plenty of glorious singing and a wonderfully overly-dramatic soundtrack. Oh yes, and plenty of beer too. This heart-string-pulling movie has been orchestrated to ensure that when we are not in the aisles laughing, we will be grabbing for our Kleenex instead. History sadly reminds us that events didn’t turn out too well for either of the communities. Thatcher won in the end and the Strike collapsed and the miners went back to work simply to find wholesale pit closures. And Beresford touches on the next battle that the gay community has to face closer to home as 1984 also saw the early signs of the AIDS epidemic in the UK.In this highly emotional movie however, there is a happy end as the Miners keep an important promise to the gay community and so as the final credits roll the feelgood factor is what you remember most as you leave the theater.
If you love excellent Brit comedies such as ‘Kinky Boots’ and ‘The Full Monty’, or if you are intrigued in how the political acceptance of the UK gay community propelled forward as a result of their contribution to the plight of others, then you will love this movie. It’s currently a smash hit in the UK and looks likely to repeat that success in the US now.
If you love excellent Brit comedies such as ‘Kinky Boots’ and ‘The Full Monty’, or if you are intrigued in how the political acceptance of the UK gay community propelled forward as a result of their contribution to the plight of others, then you will love this movie. It’s currently a smash hit in the UK and looks likely to repeat that success in the US now.
Review : Roger Walker-Dack
Editor in Chief : Queerguru
Member of G.A.L.E.C.A. (Gay & Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association) and NLGJA The Association of LGBT
Journalists. and The Online Film Critics Society. Ex Contributung Editor The Gay Uk &Contributor Edge Media
Former CEO and Menswear Designer of Roger Dack Ltd in the UK
one of the hardest-working journalists in the business' Michael Goff of Towleroad
