Made in Dagenham (2010)

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Absolutely the worst movie.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

The acting in this movie is really good.

It's 1968. Ford of Britain has one of the biggest car plant in Dagenham exporting to the rest of Europe. It employs 55k, 187 of them women. The women are seamstresses sewing car seat covers. The working conditions are bad and then the company wants to downgrade their work as unskilled. Union rep Albert Passingham (Bob Hoskins) advises them an one-day stoppage. Rita O'Grady (Sally Hawkins) becomes the leader of the group. It escalates to a full strike demanding equal pay for equal work. Everybody condescends to the ladies except for Passingham who was raised by a single mom. The union negotiator wants to collaborate with Ford. The plant shuts down and the men are unhappy. The Labour government is facing rampant strikes and declining production. They call in fixer Robert Tooley (Richard Schiff) to put pressure on the girls. Secretary of State for Employment Barbara Castle (Miranda Richardson) sees both the injustice and the dangers of losing jobs. Meanwhile, Rita finds an allie in fellow parent Lisa Hopkins (Rosamund Pike) when their kids face an abusive teacher.This is Norma Rae on steroids. It's a rousing fight for equality. Sally Hawkins is simply amazing. She is one of the best out there. Her humanity is absolutely non-negotiable. There are several unforgettable scenes and characters. Her relationship with Lisa Hopkins is truly touching and one scene between them is heart-breaking. Rita and her husband have another incredible scene. The amiable and well-meaning husband is nicely played by Daniel Mays. Their big confrontation has a powerful conclusion. Overall, this is a rousing union movie with an amazing lead performance.

The talented cast and the interesting subject matter were Made in Dagenham's selling points, and Made in Dagenham doesn't disappoint. Sure it is formulaic and the opposition is not as well-developed or as interesting as the machinists(Kenneth Cranham's character is a little one-dimensional), otherwise it is a terrific film that is as successful in comedy as it is in drama and balances both very well.Made in Dagenham's production values are superb, the 1960s setting and period detail is remarkably vivid and it's beautifully shot. The catchy soundtrack also excels in bringing the 60s to life and nothing came over as misplaced. Nigel Cole's direction is never too flashy and never simplistic and always assured, technically accomplished and with the ability to tell a story with heart and that's always engaging. There is a great story here, while it is formulaic the balance of comedy, how it handles its subject with such truth and no one-sided-ness and drama and mix of gritty social history make it always interesting and more than makes up for that. The ending is very uplifting and affecting, and it is easy for identify with the machinists and their struggles every step of the way.The film's very intelligently scripted, with the subject matter dealt with insightfully and with tension and the dialogue is hilariously entertaining in the comedy and genuinely touching in the drama. I also found the characters compelling and easy to relate to, but if there is one asset that was especially good in Made in Dagenham it was the acting. Sally Hawkins is a revelation in the lead role and she is brilliantly supported by a scene-stealing Miranda Richardson, a movingly sympathetic Bob Hoskins, a funny and moving Rosamund Pike in one of her better performances, a sleazy Kenneth Cranham and a heart-wrenching Roger Lloyd Pack et al. All in all, a terrific film with even better acting. 9/10 Bethany Cox

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.

I had many friends who enjoyed this film immensely. Almost, there's nothing TO dislike, but that most definitely does not mean that it's frothy nonsense. Or, indeed, politically correct, or, as far as Everyday Joe can tell a huge distortion of the truth.I didn't see it until it got to Sky Movies and whilst it isn't film of the year, neither is it at all bad. Take a sure-fire recipe: an unenviable and untenable situation, definitely preferably a real-life one, throw in some believable and plucky characters and give them an underdog mission to accomplish against insurmountable odds and you have it, simple ingredients to make a nourishing and satisfying movie.True, it didn't reach the dizzy heights of popularity as the likes of The King's Speech, but the source material was, shall we say, a little less Royal! and didn't have the sheer cheeky bravado as The Full Monty. The quest for better pay for the women Ford workers, who actually had their job as seamstresses making seats for Ford's popular cars, downgraded, to that of unskilled. In the wake of a strike-riddled Britain, families had absolutely no leeway with their household budgets. Therefore, they cannot afford to strike.Bob Hoskins as the foreman is perfect and how he sees their side and the potential in Rita (Sally Hawkins) an unpretentious mother and wife, who says as she sees. Miranda Richardson is also well cast as the newly appointed Cabinet Minister who is their target for change and John Sessions makes for a very authentic (especially sounding) PM Harold Wison. We see actual footage, sort of pretending to be 'current' of the production lines and meetings in Ford's HQ in Detroit (if I recall).There are a few domestic scenes that, for me at least, aren't as interesting but otherwise it's sassy and smart with just the right amount of comedy and pathos. The group of women (that include Geraldine James and daughter of Ray, Jaime Winstone) are like sisters who rally around both their new-found cause and each other's plight and like the women in The Calendar Girls, we are with them all the way, cheering at their successes and feeling for them at their setbacks, something I'm sure that stretches across all political persuasions.If you haven't yet seen Made in Dagenham, I suggest you do. There is some swearing but no more than in normal heated argument and mild, clothed sex scene/s and so is suitable for most age groups and every social segment.