Context: Film Review

19/09/14
Pride
 Matthew Warchus. 120 mins

The film pride is based in the summer of 1984. Margret thatcher is in power and the national union of miners is on strike. A group of gay and lesbian activists from london decided to raise money to support the families of the miners who are on strike, however the union seems embarrassed to receive their support and so the activists decide to go direct to the miners. They identify a welsh mining village and set off in a mini bus to make their donation in person, so being the extraordinary story of two seemingly alien communities who form a surprising partnership.

Through out the film there is an obvious attitude of a positive nature from the gay and lesbian main characters in the film as they are constantly being displayed as the under dogs in terms of how they are viewed in society for example at the start of the film when they are at a gay pride march comments from passers by are spat at the marchers such as 'disgusting' this attitude adds to the emotional feel good vibe the film presents the audience with through out. And through out the film they are named and isolated repeatedly, even by the miners at first, who they are actually trying to help. However they still seem to remain happy, hopeful and determined despite the foul outlook society has on them. This attitude is then rubbed of onto the miners who them selves are in a difficult position while on strike struggling to provide for families etc. The gays explain that the miners are in a similar situation to the gays in the fact that due to the strike they have in a way become isolated from society and are being picked on by the police and bullied almost by the government to make them go back to work and that they understood their problems and wanted to help. The two groups eventually grow to understand and bond with each other and the film shows constant references to the symbol of a handshake, two hands grasping one another as a symbol of togetherness and alliance but also of friendship as this is what blooms between the groups and is what the films main themes are.
With regards to the visual aspects of the film it shows the areas of london and wales to be quite grey and drab and the clothing of passers by and the miners etc is also rather plain and normal, however the gays clothing is lively and busy along with their hairstyles, for example one of the lesbians has bright red hair, and they stand out due to this (even their mini bus was bright yellow and read 'out loud' in bold letters on the side again referring to the nature of the characters) this too however reinforces, visually, the positivity of the gays and lesbians as they are bright and colourful making them seem approachable and happy. The time period of the film (set in the 80s) is well represented by props in the film such as the telephones, the old tv's, the cars etc as well as by the costumes of the actors. Also the decor of the homes.
The film has used various techniques of tension building to enthral the audience at certain points in the film. For example when the gays are trying to get hold of the miners via telephone after being refused by the union, there is a scene of the woman on the other end of the phone, walking slowly towards it as it rings, building tension of what her reaction will be to their proposal. Another example of this is when one of the gays is being aggressively persuaded by a passer by, building tension as he try s to walk away from the man, music also getting more tense and then when he urns to confront the man the screen go s black and the audience doesn't find out hes been hurt for a short while after. this cases the audience to feel the
Over 'Pride' has a good positive message that is shown by the attitude and results of the gays and what they were able to achieve by simply staying positive and despite all the hate towards them staying loving and thoughtful to others. Their commitment and involvement with the miners ended up building a relationship where the miners where able to see them for who they were and not just as gays and so encouraged the miners to show their appreciation of the help the gays had given them and supported up to the gay pride march. As a result due to this key member of the miners union Gay rights was passed by the government and the journey of acceptance and towards sexuality was set in motion on a larger scale.