Pride (I) (2014)

Pride (I) (2014)



Director: Matthew Warchus
Writer: Stephen Beresford
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Country: UK
Language: English, Welsh
Duration: 120 min
Year: 2014




Stars: Bill Nighy, Imelda Staunton, Dominic West

Kada je u martu 1984. godine vlada Margaret Tacher zaprijetila zatvaranjem 20 rudnika ugljena u Velikoj Britaniji rudari su stupili u štrajk koji je trajao skoro godinu dana.
U ranim danima štrajka Mark Ashton (Ben Schnetzer), mladi gej aktivist u Londonu nagovara nekolicinu svojih gay prijatelja da daju podršku rudarima.
Nakon što su prikupili malo novaca skupina od sedam gej muškaraca i jedna lezbijka u malom narandžastom kombiju dolaze u rudarsko mjesto Onllwyn kako bi se pridružili rudarima koji su u štrajku.
Film je rađen po istinitom događaju i na jedan komičan način prikazuje odnos i upoznavanje ljudi sa potpuno različitim načinom života. Srdačnost, neprijateljstvo, strah i nijemo čuđenje koje je dočekalo skupinu gejeva u malom mjestu nije zasmetalo da se postavi pitanje o prihvatanju solidarnosti pa makar dolazilo i od potpuno različitih ljudi.

Iako i jedni i drugi nose različite životne priče ujedinjuje ih borba protiv nepravde i želja da se izbore za svoje mjesto pod suncem.

Film je prepun komičnih scena koje upečatljivo odslikavaju nepoznavanje različitosti. Tako je jedna starija žena u razgovoru sa lezbijkom utvrdila da su gejevi vegetarijanci, dok su drugi oprezno pristupali upoznavanju.
Na kraju krajeva kada se savlada početni strah od nepoznatog dolazimo do činjenice da smo svi ipak samo ljudi sa emocijama, stahovima i nadanjima za bolji život.

Pride is a 2014 British LGBT-related historical comedy-drama film written by Stephen Beresford and directed by Matthew Warchus. It was screened as part of the Directors' Fortnight section of the 2014 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Queer Palm award. Writer Stephen Beresford said a stage musical adaptation involving director Matthew Warchus was being planned.
Based on a true story, the film depicts a group of lesbian and gay activists who raised money to help families affected by the British miners' strike in 1984, at the outset of what would become the Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners campaign. The National Union of Mineworkers was reluctant to accept the group's support due to the union's public relations' worries about being openly associated with a gay group, so the activists instead decided to take their donations directly to Onllwyn, a small mining village in Wales, resulting in an alliance between the two communities. The alliance was unlike any seen before but was successful.

“Pride” is brilliantly entertaining just as it is, so I trust that no one connected with the film will be insulted if I say that, despite the existence of shows with similarly stirring themes, like “Billy Elliot” and “Kinky Boots,” the story would make a terrific musical. In truth, the movie is halfway there already. Beresford and the director, Matthew Warchus, bracket the tale with gay-pride marches in London in 1984 and 1985, but, in general, the picture is short on politics and historical context (there’s almost nothing about the strike itself) and long on comedy, sentiment, and music. As the Londoners imagine entering a mining town, they joke about what they might say to the inhabitants. “May I inquire about your communal baths?” is one gambit. But they sober up when they meet the strikers, who are defiant but very much in need of help. These early meetings have the wariness of two species confronting each other in a marsh. Some of the younger miners, disgusted, want nothing to do with the gays. An elderly woman with a soft face musters her courage and says to a lesbian, “That can’t be true, can it? You’re all . . . vegetarians?” The Londoners are smart, self-deprecating, ironic, and sometimes furious about their own wounds; the miners and their wives and widows can be hearty, even cheery, but, just below the surface, they carry a lifelong bitterness. The two groups are fused by anger and divided by virtually everything else. -  DAVID DENBY in The New Yorker