Ignore the dull title and settle down for a feel-good movie movie which dramatises the historic equal-pay struggle of the woman-workers at Ford's Dagenham car-assembly plant in 1968.
Yes, it's deliberately sexed-up and you can see a stage-musical bursting to get out a la "Billy Elliott", "The Full Monty" et al (one is in production) but the underlying story is still purveyed with a winning mixture of pathos and good humour. The era is effectively conveyed with the fashion, domestic interiors and of course cars of the day to appeal to the nostalgia freaks in all of us and if the sixties' soundtrack is occasionally eclectic ("Green Tambourine" by the Lemon Pipers?), it does at least start with the apt Desmond Dekker song "Israelites" (opening line "Get up every morning, slaving for breakfast") and ends in triumph with another reggae classic "You Can Get It If You Really Want" by Jimmy Cliff.
Directed by "Calendar Girls" Nigel Cole, the story does "go Hollywood" a little too obviously at times, with its creation of the two main trade union women representatives at the heart of the protest, Sally Hawkins initially reluctant but miraculously eloquent and feisty mother- of-two Rita O'Grady and Geraldine James as the older Connie with her own back-story of being married to a stuffy, emotionally-damaged and dependant war veteran, played by the recently deceased Roger Lloyd-Pack. Apparently in real-life, the women didn't "strip down" in the heat at the factory or wear hot-pants as one of the younger ones does but these are obviously inserted for humour and I suppose mild titillation. Rita's own relationship with her initially supportive husband comes under strain as the strike hits them financially but of course he comes round in the end, while Gloria's situation with her ailing husband takes a dramatic, perhaps overly-dramatic turn for the worse too. I wasn't completely convinced either by Rita's bonding with the posh wife of one of the Ford officials but at least it opened the story out with its inference that sexual discrimination is classless.
By the time we get to the grandstand finish when the women convince Labour's high- profile Employment Cabinet Minister, Barbara Castle to announce their victory outside Parliament to triumphant background music, while obviously milked to some extent, it's impossible not to cheer for their success.
There are some good acting performances, especially Hawkins as Britain's answer to Norma Rae, Miranda Richardson as self-proclaimed fiery redhead MP Castle and Bob Hoskins as a sympathetic veteran male union rep.
There's a great story to be told here, this being the first ever time that the equal rights for women taboo was broken in employment history and I probably would have preferred a more serious, true-to-life approach but watch the film to be educated and entertained, if not quite in equal measure.
Yes, it's deliberately sexed-up and you can see a stage-musical bursting to get out a la "Billy Elliott", "The Full Monty" et al (one is in production) but the underlying story is still purveyed with a winning mixture of pathos and good humour. The era is effectively conveyed with the fashion, domestic interiors and of course cars of the day to appeal to the nostalgia freaks in all of us and if the sixties' soundtrack is occasionally eclectic ("Green Tambourine" by the Lemon Pipers?), it does at least start with the apt Desmond Dekker song "Israelites" (opening line "Get up every morning, slaving for breakfast") and ends in triumph with another reggae classic "You Can Get It If You Really Want" by Jimmy Cliff.
Directed by "Calendar Girls" Nigel Cole, the story does "go Hollywood" a little too obviously at times, with its creation of the two main trade union women representatives at the heart of the protest, Sally Hawkins initially reluctant but miraculously eloquent and feisty mother- of-two Rita O'Grady and Geraldine James as the older Connie with her own back-story of being married to a stuffy, emotionally-damaged and dependant war veteran, played by the recently deceased Roger Lloyd-Pack. Apparently in real-life, the women didn't "strip down" in the heat at the factory or wear hot-pants as one of the younger ones does but these are obviously inserted for humour and I suppose mild titillation. Rita's own relationship with her initially supportive husband comes under strain as the strike hits them financially but of course he comes round in the end, while Gloria's situation with her ailing husband takes a dramatic, perhaps overly-dramatic turn for the worse too. I wasn't completely convinced either by Rita's bonding with the posh wife of one of the Ford officials but at least it opened the story out with its inference that sexual discrimination is classless.
By the time we get to the grandstand finish when the women convince Labour's high- profile Employment Cabinet Minister, Barbara Castle to announce their victory outside Parliament to triumphant background music, while obviously milked to some extent, it's impossible not to cheer for their success.
There are some good acting performances, especially Hawkins as Britain's answer to Norma Rae, Miranda Richardson as self-proclaimed fiery redhead MP Castle and Bob Hoskins as a sympathetic veteran male union rep.
There's a great story to be told here, this being the first ever time that the equal rights for women taboo was broken in employment history and I probably would have preferred a more serious, true-to-life approach but watch the film to be educated and entertained, if not quite in equal measure.