Review of Made in Dagenham (2010) by James C — 24 Dec 2010

Of 55,000 Ford factory employees in England in 1968, 187 of them were women, working in a poorly ventilated room with a leaking roof. That's not the worst of it as they found out their skill level has just been downgraded. As Albert(Bob Hoskins), their union representative, puts it, it is more serious than it sounds because they will now make much less than men. So, Albert brings along Connie(Geraldine James), the shop steward, and Rita(Sally Hawkins), whose husband Eddie(Daniel Mays) also works at the factory, to a meeting where Rita makes a couple of valid points. That is not the end of her involvement as she also takes the lead by calling a one day work stoppage to get the bosses' attention.

If you only get to see one inspiring English period piece based on a true story where somebody finds his or her true voice this holiday season, then definitely check out "Made in Dagenham" which is about what can be accomplished in numbers, no matter how small, especially on the subject of payroll equity which is still an important issue.(Yes, I know Rita is a composite character but I'm on a roll here.) Albert might nudge Rita a little in the right direction but this is all her show and Sally Hawkins does a superb job playing a character who finally gets to express herself and people to listen. In fact, the most pivotal character might be Lisa Hopkins(Rosamund Pike), the wife of a factory boss(Rupert Graves), who could have just easily been just another two-dimensional villain/bitch but is instead much more sympathetic, showing the women's struggle to cross class lines, despite the cool dueling Marx's quotes.

Whereas I know government minister Barbara Castle(Miranda Richardson) is important to history, her involvement in this particular story comes at a particularly odd angle. Plus, the ending feels anticlimactic with everything that it has taken to get to that point. The movie gets a lot of period details right, especially the chauvinism of the time, but men not being able to cook is something of a cliche because my dad who married in 1967 has always been able to cook. And wasn't Jane Fonda still a bimbo in 1968, the year "Barbarella" was released?