Made In Dagenham: Movie Review

Made In Dagenham: Movie Review

Made In Dagenham
Rating: 6/10
Cast: Sally Hawkins, Daniel Mays, Bob Hoskins, Richard Schiff, Jaime Winstone, Geraldine James, Rosamund Pike, Miranda Richardson
Director: Nigel Cole
From the director of Calendar Girls comes a new UK film with a cast that reads like a Who's Who of Brit talent.
It's 1960s Britain, where Ford (sorry Holden lovers) is at the height of its power - pumping out thousands of cars daily to the world.
But in the town of Dagenham, where one of the company's major plants is housed, trouble's a-brewing.
Well specifically in the machinist section of the plant populated by some 187 women.
Downgraded to a lower unskilled band, the women are not happy - and in one of them, shy and quiet Rita O'Grady (a wonderful Sally Hawkins) they find the voice to complain to the management at Head Office.
Spurred on by Bob Hoskins' shop steward, Albert, soon she's declaring an all out walk out for the staff and the cause begins to spread.
Initially it's about being upgraded to skilled - but soon it becomes about equal pay for women - and as the struggle to get their cause noticed increases, the tensions for all of the women (Rita's family too) escalate.
It's fair to say that Made in Dagenham is crowd pleasing in the extreme; with the usual kind of humour that pioneered the mold with The Full Monty, this Brit flick sings in terms of soundtrack, dry humorous moments and some great performances.
Every actor turns in solid performances - but it's Sally Hawkins who really impresses in this role of the mousey, put upon Rita whose voice rises up when it's most needed. She's the emotional centre of the film and she succeeds because she's never showy and immensely watchable.
The whole film's steeped in a UK nostalgia of the 1960s which is weaved in throughout - talk of colour TVs, puppet Sooty and vintage UK roadside diners will resonate more with some than others.
Sure, it's predictable in places - and you can see where the cracks will come dramatically (which may irritate the purists who feel that it's UK film making by numbers in terms of script, jokes and direction) but if the formula ain't broke, then I guess you don't need to fix it. There's nothing inherently wrong with the film and audiences will lap it up but in places, it does feel like a feel-good-film-by-numbers style flick.
The only disappointment in this empowerment flick is the end credits where you actually see the women who were the inspiration for the film - but any emotional resonance over who they are is lost due to a lack of pointing out who's who.

Chalk Made In Dagenham up to another of those barnstorming, crowd pleasing, publically adored feel good UK films which the motherland continues to churn out.