Pride (2014) - a rambling review

[@epicwalrus7183]

My Dad was part of the strike and even now we still live on the South Wales coal field, I can see one of the old tips from my bedroom window. My grandfather was a miner, my father was a miner and then I turned out queer XD It was thanks to LGSM and the respect they still have in a lot of mining communities (including from my Dad) that I could feel comfortable enough to even discuss my sexuality (AroAce) with my family. I've never exactly "come out", I just started adding my sexuality to conversations when discussion like that came up, and thanks to the respect that's a given because of LGSM no one in my family batted an eye.

[@beauregarden]

As a Welsh queer, I knew the some of the story before the film came out. The film is still a very satisfying and feel good film to watch. I pop it on from time to time when I need a pick-me-up

[@melvyncollins7305]

Love this. Being a grandson of a retired miner during the strike, I vividly remember visiting him in South Yorkshire and having to explain to the police why we were trying to get in the village. A few years later Thatcher shut the mine down. With no other work available as the pit was the only real source of employment, the village later became known as the heroin capital of Britain by the tabloid press.

[@myoctobersymphony4446]

Labour closed more mines.

[@Seal0626]

There's something Andrew Scott said about this film that sticks with me - because so many of the characters were gay men, none of them were under pressure to represent well as "the gay one". They could instead focus on portraying their characters as individuals. Also, something for people who are familiar with the film: a young photographer from Bromley goes to London in the mid-eighties, where he falls in with a group of out and proud queer people, and discovers his own queer sexuality. The writers claim that he is a fictional character, among historical figures, introduced as a sort of audience avatar to facilitate the storytelling. I just described Billy James, from the musical _Taboo_ (2002, kzbin.info/www/bejne/jKStcqWgrraJjdE ). If I had a nickel etc.

[@lucypreece7581]

For me the scene I love the most is the one in the community centre after Mark has made a speech and stuff and then the welsh women start singing Bread and Roses which is a traditional poem associated with the women's suffrage movement in the US but rose in prominence with the Women's unions. Like the women start singing and then everyone else joins in and it just becomes this wonderful moment and you can feel the emotion and it's wonderful.

[@Lil-Dragon]

Oh, I love this film personally. Thanks to whoever commissioned it. Nice to see the story. I'd heard bits of growing up and discovering LGBTQ+ history on the Internet.

[@tennisCharlzz]

This movie is more complex than it looks. To illustrate, list all the subplots in this movie. Most movies can't come close to telling so many different stories. There's Joe coming out for the first time. There's Andrew Scott playing Gethin as an elder gay who goes back to Wales after leaving it years ago. Joe's relationship with a lesbian. There are the miners that want to learn to dance. There's the lesbians who want to form their own group and the gay men wondering why it's needed. There's Mark's relationship with the secondary organizer. The women that come to support the gays. The Welsh woman that is inspired to take a leadership role. It was never clear to me how the movie would end. It ends kind of where it starts with Joe having gone from being a passive gay to wanting to lead the group in something he finds more meaningful than pastries. There's the surprising Welsh leader who isn't the bad guy. There's the quiet scene where Bill Nighy's character comes out. And yet, I found none of it confusing. That's a lot of story strands overall and most movies can barely keep one main storyline.

[@cpnlsn88]

For me the spine of the film is the trek made from South Wales to North Wales. The scene is really beautiful and there are few words. This scene marks the descent into negativity where all the reversals are experienced. Bad reversals, hingeing on the failure of the strike itself. But positivity flourishes amidst the negativity. Meeting back at the end of the strike, seeing Gethin in hospital, Joe gaining independence, Cliff coming out. The last scene about Pride and miners heading the march and backing LGBT rights at Labour Party conference (a big turning point). My recollection is the National Union of Mineworkers voted for the motion but also lobbied for it quite hard within the party.

[@TearfulMoon]

"Every woman is a lesbian at heart"to the tune of "Solidarity Forever" stuck with me😄

[@Velociraptour]

...including Reggie's mom.

[@martinmaynard141]

@@Velociraptour "Except for Reggie's mum"

[@catherinebusher2296]

Being Welsh, Queer and having grown up in the 80’s during ara of section 28, this film fills me with so much joy and pride, not only for in my nation, but for my community. I just with finding that common ground was just as easy now.

[@ksaunders4362]

I love this movie. One of my favourite scenes is at the end, where the miners all roll up to support their LGBT+ friends and one of the older women hops out of the van and she twitters, "Where are my lesbians? Where are my lesbians?" before they run up to hug her and she gives them something she baked for them. I'm a sucker for found family.

[@lucypreece7581]

I cannot think of enough words to describe how much I love this movie.

[@davinacaine3615]

I am a union rep now and one of my friends was an extra in the working men’s club

[@mikaylaeager7942]

This is possibly my favorite movie of all time!!! It plays into everyone of my particular tastes! There’s clashing cultures, common cause, Solidarity, leftist uprising, found family, queerness, community, and general wholesomeness. I love it so much!! And…. although it’s never stated outright, it’s pretty clear to anyone paying attention that Mark is a Communist. He is wearing a Marxist red star lapel pin throughout the entire movie, and the first time he goes up on stage someone in the crowd shouts “Commie.” Also all of his actions are entirely compatible with the ideology. The choice not to make a bigger deal out of it was the right choice in my opinion as it would have taken away from the story they were trying to tell.

[@Luuuna]

I'd never heard of this film until a couple month ago, when we had a movie night at our unis LGBTsoc - now it's one of my favourites! 😊

[@vickypedia1308]

We had a movie night at my queer support center for this movie today! Came here to see what others thought of it. I haven't visited that place often yet, but watching that movie with them, I truly felt at home.

[@melanierhianna]

There were a lot of African American GIs in the mining areas of Wales during WW2. They were accepted well by the communities. They aren’t as conservative as you might think. They might be old school but they are left leaning politics wise. You might want to check out The Proud Valley with Paul Robeson from 1940.

[@LawrenceAkers]

I love this film. I just found it to be a really engaging, enjoyable film with some lovely, touching moments.

[@MorganBriarwood]

I live in south Wales and I was in my early teens during the miners strike. What I remember most is when the strike had been going for a long time the unions could no longer financially support their members. Miners’ wives gathered in the centre s of the big towns, begging for food for their children. I didn’t fully understand the reasons for what was happening but that effectively radicalised me. The film didn’t need to spell out the communist politics-it’s inherent in their support for the miners. But enough history. It’s a fantastic feel good movie 😊

[@AllyCraig]

The Bread and Roses singalong scene always makes me blub. Lovely film, it definitely worked for me.

[@bennet8388]

Love this film! I used the depiction of violence in the miners' strike in Pride in my a level coursework last year, looking at it's accuracy in comparison with Our Friends in the North (which features a young Christopher Eccleston, Daniel Craig, Mark Strong and Gina McKee), and Billy Elliot. I think I watched it like every night for a week when I first bought the dvd! I agree that the cast is just brilliant. A lot of things stick out for me about the film but I particularly love the line Gethin shouts when he says 'I'm home, and I'm gay, and I'm Welsh!' (or something like that). Really enjoyed the review:)

[@henrymendoza8295]

Pride is one of my all-time favourite films. It's a beautiful film and I think I'm yet to get to that scene at the end without crying. A friend of mine once said they don't know how anyone can watch that film and come away from it still a conservative, and I do feel similarly. The cast is incredible, and while I understand the criticisms around Mark Ashton's portrayal not explicitly acknowledging him as a communist, then most of the other real people involved are incredibly happy with the film and were even very specifically involved in the publicity of it (in a way that you don't often see with historical dramas of this type) and I believe LGSM as a group has been able to carry on to a certain extent with other activism in the modern day and get more support because of this film. Fundamentally it's a socialist film with mainstream appeal, and it does largely wear its politics on its sleeve, which is quite rare for those things to go together. Really glad you've seen and reviewed this.

[@MichikoOkada]

It's so relevant even now to the British context, while so many sectors are going on/planning to strike this winter (postal workers, teachers in Scotland, university staff, nurses, rail workers etc). For a small insight into the US's intersecting history of queer activism/life and the labour movement, I highly recommend Leslie Feinberg's novel Stone Butch Blues, an utter classic

[@DiM2404]

A shame about this one is that, despite being a film about union struggles, the conditions on set, at least for the extras, were remarkably poor (things are never great for extras but this one was particularly bad)

[@darrenhoskins8382]

Aaaw sad to hear that 😮☹️what was it that happened?

[@gozerthegozarian9500]

Me watching this film: "Wow, this is a deeply moving story about real events that I was not aware of at the time ( due to being a) not British and b) five years old at the time), that still resonate with me as a leftist queer/queer leftist." Also me watching this film: "Andrew Scott! Squeeeeeeeeee!!!!"

[@plushred7384]

Mark Ashton was a hero.

[@graceygrumble]

He was. He saw through the tribal veneer. He helped... he helped. The UK is the better for him. May he rest in peace. Job done.

[@herrgoldmann2562]

I watched the film yesterday, it was wonderful and very touching, I had tears in my eyes.. It also reminded me of my youth. I remember the strike of the miners and how bitter it was. Being from a working class family myself , I felt for the miners and donated money for them several times. At the time, I nevertheless had not heard about that gay group supporting the miners or the miners coming to London gay pride to thank them- Either it wasn´t reported (over here in Germany ? in the UK ? ) or I didn´t pay attention....

[@rozzaziobrown6515]

The movie can get a little cheesy at time but I'd be lying if I say that ending doesnt make me cry every time

[@melanierhianna]

I was at university in York during the miners strikes. I remember the bucket collections and the interaction between the queer community and the miner supporters.

[@paulhammond6978]

Yeah - I feel like it was well done, and of course it contains lots of excellent British actors. But these things do also have a tendency to run along the lines of "Billy Elliot"

[@Adeodatus100]

I love this movie. I came out and started becoming activist (in a tiny, scared kind of way) just a year or two after these events, and the alliance between us and the unions was incredibly strong. I suppose the film does omit to mention how left-wing we were, but in the 80s most of British politics - Including Thatcher's Tories - was to the left of what's now considered the mainstream.

[@thelibrarianofalexandria6200]

I saw it years ago during Pride love it. Need to rewatch it

[@gozerthegozarian9500]

I need to rewatch it, too! Just found it's available for streaming here on youtube! Yay!

[@DanielDiaz-um1xd]

Only seen it once when it was released but the bus scene towards the end has always remained with me (as well as hearing shame on you for the first time)

[@alfje5492]

Great movie and a great double bill with The Full Monty!

[@BreakRoomofGeeks]

They do have similar overall feels.

[@Stephen-Fox]

An absolutely wonderful film which I saw in the cinema when it was released.

[@clarinetangel99]

I freaking love this movie!

[@LunarWanderer17]

This is my favourite queer film, I have watched so many times

[@meander112]

Engagement for the engagement god!

[@_gremlinboy]

Always thought this was one of the best movies from the Netflix lgbt+ section

[@MyMpc1]

This review is utter nonsense. You describe the storyline of this movie but you label it as a formal. Which other movie depicts two different marginalised groups coming together with tension and then g on to find common ground? Besides, this is actually what happened. Embedded stories are formed by our lexicon of what actually happens in life.

[@mystic_mimi21]

This film helped me so much as a baby bi. Sadly I’m small towns and Tory towns not much has changed with younger people when I was growing up (in my early 20s now) This was my heart stopper . I watch it every pride. Feels very similar to Its a sin. The cast are amazing. Doesn’t feel like a film but real.

[@eliselianaboyd2547]

I saw this and then kinky boots. Both based on true stories and Both are really good