Pride
Pride (2014) opens in the summer of 1984. The British miners are on strike in a bitter stalemate with Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Moved to action by the way the strikers are being trounced in the press, an unlikely group of activists decides to help, and the Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners (LGSM) organization is born. What follows is the moving, and at times hilarious, true story about a most unusual alliance.
The film revolves around LGSM founder and leader Mark Ashton (Ben Schnetzer) and his merry band of followers, including Jonathan Blake, played by a jovial Dominic West (The Wire). At first, the well-meaning group gets turned away by the National Union of Mineworkers, who are concerned about inviting more public relations problems on themselves. LGSM circumvents the national union and contacts the Welsh mining community of Onllwyn directly. They are met with mixed emotions of gratitude, suspicion, and genuine befuddlement. The strike drags on through the winter, and the people of Onllwyn and their unlikely champions find common ground. As they do, they lay the groundwork for a friendship that continues to be woven into the fabric of both the mining and LGBT communities in Britain today.
Pride is the best film from 2014 that you’ve never heard of. It lifts the spirit and warms the heart. When you watch it’s final moments, it is easy to see why its early audiences gave it a standing ovation.
Review By: Addie Matteson