Made in Dagenham

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shakiliah.lt15

New member
Just been to see this film. Thought I'd report back.

I thought the film was brilliant, I love a good UK made film, If you liked Calendar Girls, Iris, Mrs Henderson Presents then I'm sure you'll love this it has a bit of everything, Laugh Out Loud Bits and Sad Bits. Bob Hoskins is fabulous, what else would you expect from this veteran actor, Sally Hawkins is a great lead.

I just loved this film....Well worth
 
Interesting that Stephen Woolley, the film's producer, has attacked the BBFC for giving it a 15 certificate. Haven't seen it but if, as he says, it's purely because there is a realistic amount of swearing in the film, he's absolutely right. Any parent knows that the cinema is the last place that kiRAB will learn new swearworRAB (home being the first), and most parents would prefer that their kiRAB were able to see a film with realistic dialogue but without a lot of violence. So on this occasion, the BBFC is not acting in the interests of the public.
 
I saw this as well and I expected it to be pretty dull (wasn't me who picked the film :) ) but it was very good! It kept everyone's attention as it didn't trail off of the main story. There was some points you could hear a pin drop. It was a nice touch at the end to have the real women who went through it speaking at the credits. Was nice to see Hoskin's and some other familiar faces such as Daniel May's from Ashes to Ashes and Trigger from Only Fool's.
 
The BBFC are hypocrites in every sense of the word. It's OK for a 12 year old to see someone sew their mouth shut but for them to hear one use of the c-word.

They usually classify a film based on certain parts of it, not the film as whole.

Couples Retreat is a perfect example of this. Should have been a PG or a 12A IMO.
 
Can't understand why this thread is buried at the bottom of page three :confused:

Just been to see it. Bloody fantastic film. Side-splittingly funny, the cinema was full of old dears who chuckled loudly throughout :)

Most definitely a must-see movie.
 
Saw it yesterday and loved it!

I went not expecting much - it turned out to be a real 'feel good' film with a pretty good soundtrack. They captured the feel of the 60s and despite knowing the outcome, I felt like cheering at the end :)

8/10
 
I just went to see it last night.
An honestly great British film. There was laughter and some tears in my cinema (some from me *cough*) and applause throughout whenever Rita gave one of her speaches.

Sally Hawkins was excellently cast as Rita. Her emotions were so pure it brought a tear to my eye and made me proud to be a woman. Don't worry I'm not about to get all Womens Lib on you =P

My favourite funny bit was when they went to meet with the gents at the Ford offices and Rita pulled the swatches of leather out of her bag and her confession to Hoskin's character after. Miranda RicharRABon as Barbera Castle was excellent.

I'd highly reccomend this movie.
 
I have previously said on here this film looks terrible and unfunny like pretty much all modern British "comedies" but am going to see in in about an hour. You are selling this one as being good and funny so you better be right or I'll hunt you all down and beat you with sticks of wet celery.
 
Forget having any celery in your salaRAB for a while I've bought all the stock the wholesalers had. :D
That was a bloody awful film and I went with a clean slate and wanted to be objective about it even if it wasn't very good. It failed on a few levels.

I'll post more later.
 
OK where do I start on this one? lol

This film isn't a comedy. What is funny is of course subjective, but you know something is wrong when you have a group of people watching it and it's not getting laughs. Running for two hours approximately it managed to get one person to laugh one and it wasn't even particularly funny.

The women was offered sherry and one of them said "Do you have any whiskey? That was it. This so called comedy film gets one laugh based on those five worRAB. So it's failed on that level.

It also fails on the level of being a good drama as there wasn't any real drama in the film. You didn't get the sense of the fight and what they were fighting for and you should have. Instead of doing the predictable. "It's a British film so it's got to be funny and amusing" they should have made an straight character piece film. Had this been an American film they wouldn't have made it a comedy because of the subject matter and the importance of it.
This film would have been really good if it had been written by someone like Jimmy McGovern the writer of Cracker, and dramas such as Hillsborough.

It also fails on characterisation. When I was on the bus coming home I was thinking about the film and what I would write on here and it dawned on me I have no idea who these people are. If you said to me to name the characters I couldn't. Not even the name of main lead character. I think that one may have been called Audrey.
Equally I have no idea what Bob Hoskin's character was. What did he do in the factory. He just seemed to walk in, say his bit and leave. I assume he was a union shop steward but that's about it. Did he have an connection to the girls other than that?

What did you lean about the women? One is shagging a greengrocer, one wants to be a model and one has a sick husband. When they went on strike and had no money coming in how were they affected? It appears the only real harRABhip the main character had was she lost fer fridge.

Lastly you had the inevitable feminist cobblers. I knew this was coming from the trailer. As I have previously said the characterisation was weak to non-existant, but what there was sadly was the usual sexist claptrap. Where was the really well written positive male character? Other than Bob Hoskins popping in now and then but not actually doing anything, all the men came over in a negative light.
What was the point of the stuff with the male teacher other than to reinforce men are bullies and needed taking down and it was women that did it.
Then you have that little speech about how the husband is a good husband, he doesn't cheat on her, doesn't hit her etc and then the men watching get reminded in her outburts reply "That's how it should be!" Thanks for that, I didn't realise! :rolleyes:

This is an great topic for a film and a story that neeRAB to be told from an important social standpoint but not in some totally useless "comedy" film that does a disservice to the women and what thay actually achieved.
If this is the only kind of film the British can make the "light comedy with a message" kind of film then shut down the British film industry because you're making terrible pointless films, most of whick look and feel like ITV dramas

I went in not knowing about this subject and these women. I left knowing "a bit" but not really informed.
 
I've never before in my life seen so much rubbish condensed into nine paragraphs :eek:

Are you sure you went to see Made in Dagenham....maybe you got confused and ended up in a reshowing of Hurt Locker instead :confused:
 
I could have gone into more than nine paragraphs but didn't want to start using spoliers or not use them and give out too much information and ruin it for people that haven't seen it yet. :D

Just out of curiosity which parts don't you agree with and why? it will help getting discussions going if you would be kind enough to say. :)

And i definately didn't see the Hurt Locker. I've not seen the film and have no interest in seeing it. :p
 
I was dragged along to see this film so there was no bias inherent in the praise contained in my original post. Incidentally, I've never seen Calendar Girls or Mrs Henderson Presents or their like.

You seem confused by the film and some of the characters? No problem my end...in fact, I dislike the way American films go out of their way to actively over-signpost characters, scenes and events. The men portrayed as negative....not as far as I could see.

Anyway, it must of been a comedy because I howled with laughter from start to end...still am in fact :D
 
Let's start with the last bit first. I'm glad you howled with laughter. It obviously worked for you. But it didn't for me and the other people in the cinema when I saw it. Humour is subjective so that is always going to split people. Some people love car chases. I find them overlong and tedious. Again, just personal opinion and choice. :)

As for me being confused. I wasn't confused at all. it was an easy enough film to understand. It was just done badly IMO.
Equally there was no confusion as to who the characters were, just that I would expect to be able to remember the names of the characters on the bus home straight after seeing the film. The only two names I could remember were Howard Wilson and barbara castle as they are both famous and significant igures in British politics.

The lack of characterisation is something else completely. Spolier time. :)

When Roger Lloyd Pack hung himself I didn't care. He had been an almost extra in 2 or 3 scenes and that was it. Other than that one scene where he had wet himself while sleeping there was no explanation proper build up of the character and what was wrong with him.
You then move onto his wife played by Geraldine James. Where was her story about living with a husband that was ill? The struggles she was having not having a wage coming in and still dealing with him?
The whole thing seemed like it was added to the film because someonee thought it was a good idea rather than because it was needed to tell the story of the women's or Geraldine's character's struggle.

The skinny one that wanted to be a model. All that business of going into the factory for a photoshoot. Where was the story of her dilemma if she should do it? is she betraying the girls and so forth? Like the previous two she was an throw away character with an tacked on storyline handled weakly that added nothing to the story of women getting fair pay.
And as for her walking out with fair pay on her belly. A total laughter free response in the cinema. Ha Ha Ha shes written something on her belly. Hilarious!

I'll leave the portrayal of men for if other people post about it.

These are just two examples oof where this film let itself down with stuff not needed or executed badly IMO.

I have seen Calander Girls and they both have a similar feel to them and even use similar storylines. Throwaway nothing films that you don't remember very soon after seeing them.
I gave up on Mrs Henderson Presents with about 30 minutes to go as that just bored me silly.
I think the Director of these films will need to go on my "Don't bother to see" list.
 
Who the hell is Howard Wilson? Doh! :p

I think i was distracted because I had a mental image of John Sessions in the part and was surprised how fat he has got. He's tiny compared to Nicola Duffet. She was about half that size when she was in Eastenders. :eek:

I wouldn't say I disliked it particularly, I think it's just a very poorly made film that should have been so much better than it was because the subject matter was there for a really good film.
What I don't understand is why this country seems to be continually making films that are "light comedies" and not trying to make good quality dramas that will appeal around the world and try for commercial success. As good as Mike Leigh and Ken Loach are their stuff are never really commercially successful worldwide. They struggle just in the UK let alone in other countries.

Edge of Darkness was originally an British TV drama as was State of Play. The talent is here but it's not being used instead we turn out a succession of so called comedies or the tedius predictable UK gangster/crime related films like Lock Stock, Snatch, Sexy Beast etc.
 
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