Review of Made in Dagenham (2010) by Char M — 12 Jan 2012

I was struggling through this to believe it's historical accuracy but a little research and clips of the women themselves at the end speaking about the strike validated it's 80% accuracy. Phenomenally it seems, and I only just learned this the 1968 Dagenham Ford Strike opened the door - internationally - to equal pay for women.

So what we take for granted now started in Dagenham and then spread worldwide (in the industrialised west that is - still remains outstanding in China, India and other major economies), alot due to the mighty Barbara Castle (great cameo from Miranda Richardson) who should really have been the first female prime minister (someone should make a film just about her).

So 'Made in Dagenham' itself is a bit of a carry-on, light and airbrushed which is why it didn't seem totally truthful, the main role of Rita O'Grady (Sally Hawkins) is a composite which perhaps why I think she didn't come as a fully authentic, and the very cute Daniel Mays as her husband Eddie, also I felt too angelic: for working-class families to strike was surely very costly and I think it would have been much harsher, as would the lives of factory workers and the nature of the daily grind of the work.

So I suppose the film emphasised a sort of cheeky cliched 60's Britishness for the sake of entertainment and I would have wanted it to be grittier more like a BBC drama, which is why the women talking at the end is fascinating because they were real.

It is very watchable and interesting in a way showing that social and political history was changed by a group of working women who, in no way 'feminists', but were simply sick of being downgraded all the time.

It is interesting too that like the early suffragettes, the support of the men was ultimately needed and given to enable the change and this is epitomised by Bob Hoskins' cameo as the union leader.