Ralph's Movie Reviews: MADE IN DAGENHAM

Monday, January 24, 2011

MADE IN DAGENHAM

Drama
Based on a true story

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS
Bob Hoskins: union representative Albert Passing
Geraldine James: union shop steward Connie
Kenneth Cranham: union head Monty Taylor
Sally Hawkins: Rita O’Grady, employee at Ford’s plant
Jaime Winstone: Sandra, the pretty employee
Daniel Mays: Rita’s husband Eddie
Rupert Graves: Peter Hopkins, a senior Ford executive
Rosamund Pike: his wife Lisa
Miranda Richardson: Secretary of State Barbara Castle
John Sessions: Prime Minister Harold Wilson

REVIEW
Things were different back in the late ‘60’s when women were paid lower wages than men for the same work. In Britian the Labour government along with the company’s union agreed with this practice. The film is about what ensued when the women at one plant finally took a stand against this injustice.

An entertaining film in part because I suspect the screen writers took some liberty with the actual facts. However great attention to detail has gone into the costuming that lends it an air of authenticity.

The acting is uniformly good with more than a few humourous moments, some of which went over my head because of the strong British accents.

CLASSIFICATION

for language and brief sexuality.

P.S.
The expression “to be at sixes and sevens” is an English idiom to describe a state of confusion or disarray, of being all mixed up.

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my ratings system

I've always thought that telling too much about a movie or warning someone about a "twist" at the end deprives the person the pleasure of seeing it as it unfolds, so I don’t do it. You may not always agree with my rating of course, but at least it is an unbiased opinion unlike some of the full time professional reviewers who are on the studio’s payroll.

A few movies you won’t see any review from me:

Scary movies: I’m the world’s biggest chicken and just hate getting the crap scared out of me. I can handle an unexpected door slam, that kind of thing, but a movie that keeps you on the edge of your seat…not for me. Sorry.
Movies geared to the young teen and pre-teen crowd with dialog comprising mostly of crude remarks, awful jokes and lots of rude, socially unacceptable body noises. "The Spy that Shagged Me" comes to mind. (I wonder if the kids know what the British verb to shag someone really means? They probably do; I bet you it’s the parents who haven’t a clue).
Sometimes Hollywood gets on a roll and they produce a series of movies that are all very much alike. For example movies about the CIA were very popular and so we had The Bourne Identity and Bad Company and The Sum of All Fears. They all had the same basic theme and it becomes repetitive. I will see some, but not all of them.

FYI this is my rating system:

0 stars = Terrible: so bad it’s not worth talking about; in fact, I’d pay you not to go
= Lousy: I actually got up and walked out before the end it was just that bad (no kidding)
= Not so good: thought about walking out but hung in just in case it got better (but it didn’t)
= A so-so good movie: I enjoyed it somewhat but wasn’t all that crazy about it
= A really good movie: I recommend seeing it
= An excellent movie you just got to see! I suggest you put it on your "To Do List" it’s that good.

some favourite websites

For those into it, Nitpickers at

has more movie mistakes than you could ever imagine. My contributions can be seen if you check out the Nitpickers Registry and click on the link Nitpickers Listed by Nitpicker Number, select the group 45,401 - 45,500 and drill down to number 45411. Although I have 56 nitpicks to my credit, some have almost 2,000. You wonder sometimes where they find the time to do it.