Made in Dagenham
It’s May 1968. Temperatures and hemlines are rising but wages certainly aren’t for the ladies at Ford’s famous car plant in Dagenham.
Rita (Sally Hawkins) lives an ordinary life. By day she works hard in a hot and grotty factory as a machinist at Ford. By night she shares a council flat with husband Eddie (Daniel Mays) and their two kids.
Spurred on by her co-workers and shop steward Albert (Bob Hoskins), what starts as a walk out by the Dagenham ladies over their job skills turns into a company-wide strike by women over equal pay. Rita leads the women and travels the country rallying support. Much to the annoyance of the unions and the big cheeses at Ford.
All the while, Employment Secretary Barbara Castle (Miranda Richardson) watches on from her office in Whitehall.
Castle invites Rita – her confidence buoyed by a pillar-box red Biba dress - to meet with her. The rest, as they say, is history.
Made in Dagenham scores big in many ways. Firstly, it's great British cast made up of young Turks and national treasures.
Sally Hawkins shines as Rita with – some would say – her biggest role to date, following on from her award-winning lead role in the 2008 Mike Leigh film ‘Happy-Go-Lucky’. Hawkins handles perfectly the moves the film makes between comedy and drama. Rita is a believable character because even while she’s making speeches her voice often cracks and shows she’s still vulnerable.
Daniel Mays (also a former Mike Leigh stable mate) plays Rita’s likeable husband Eddie. Eddie backs Rita and takes on running the home while she’s out campaigning. His character raises some laughs with his attempts to cook dinner while Rita is away.
Bob Hoskins plays the loveable union shop steward Albert who has his own personal reasons for encouraging Rita to fight for equal pay. He’s there to push Rita along at the start but is strangely missing from the second reel of the film.
Miranda Richardson should also get a mention here for her crackling performance as plain-speaking Barbara Castle. It’s brilliant to watch her giving tongue-lashings to her Whitehall lackeys whilst also dealing with Prime Minister Harold Wilson (John Sessions).
As well as a great cast, the film has a knack of mixing laughter and tears without having to resort to saccharine sentimentality – something which some Hollywood films could take a lesson from.
Also, the film really keeps its foot on the accelerator and you’re definitely not left looking at your watch.
Ultimately the film is charming and has something for everyone. Don’t be put off by the ‘from the people who brought you Calendar Girls’ tagline. The ladies and the 60’s fashion are the heart of the film, but the cool cars and great 60’s soundtrack means that Made in Dagenham will appeal to both guys n’ gals young and old.
A perfect slice of 60’s British feel-good retro.