Review of Made in Dagenham (2010) by Andrew M — 15 Apr 2011

An enjoyable and moving story but an important one too - the fight for equal pay by a small group of women in 60s Dagenham. What starts out as a small strike becomes a national campaign, fighting an entrenched patriarchal establishment for social change and sexual equality in the work place. All of the main characters are well-played by an excellent cast. The film captures the period well and doesn't get bogged down simply giving us a noble but dull lesson, it conveys some of the fun of the period too.

Watching the story now, 40 years on, it still has relevance for a number of reasons. It could be argued that the equality in the work place aimed for back then is still not something that has been fully realised. It's also important to remember and document what previous generations have been through to create the society we all enjoy today. For me, what is more relevant is that it reminds us that we should always question what is challenging to us. Where will the zeitgeist be in another 40s years? What do we accept today as normal that if challenged and changed would make the world a better, fairer place to live? We would even know what this was and if we did, what would our contribution be to making it happen?