 | Monday 10th January, Reel Cinema, Andover Start time: 8:00 Release: 2010 (Cert 15) Director: Nigel Cole Starring: Sally Hawkins, Bob Hoskins and Andrea Riseborough Andover Film Club kicks off its New Year programme at the Reel on January 10th with a real gem! Released in the autumn of last year, “Made in Dagenham” (cert 15) tells the story of the fight by female machinists at Ford’s Dagenham plant for equal pay in 1968. This pitted them against the heavily-entrenched sexism of the time, not only of the bosses but their own male colleagues. The film offers a real feast of nostalgia for those As always the presentation is open to members of the public as well as members, and the show will start at 8.00pm. Introduction Given On The Night, By Mark GraingerThis is a thoroughly British film about an iconic event in recent British history. So who are the main players. The Director is Nigel Cole who also made Saving Grace(2000) and Calendar Girls(2003). He has won 2 international Awards for Saving Grace The Screenwriter was William Ivory who was also involved in Common as Muck (1994) and The Sins (2000) for which he won an Edgar Alan Poe Award The Cast includes :- Bob Hoskins needs no introduction, and in this film plays Bernie Passingham – who was (back in 1968 in real life) the husband of one of the strikers as well as a TU rep. As well as being known for his Oscar nominated portrayal of Simone in Mona Lisa & his parts in Who Framed Roger Rabbit & Hook, some of you may not remember that he was also in Brazil. Miranda Richardson plays Barbara Castle (the Employment Minister in Wilson’s government) and is also well known for her roles in Sleepy Hollow & The Crying Game as well as her Oscar nominated performance in Tom & Viv. Sally Hawkins who plays Rita has won several awards including a Golden Globe for her performance in Happy Go Lucky. Some of you may remember seeing her as Sarah in An Education when we showed it last year. Has been in numerous films in the last 10 years, done TV work as well as classical theatre. Andrea Risborough who plays Brenda, has also won awards for her recent TV work, where she was in the 2010 drama of Brighton Rock and is probably best known for her portrayal of the Iron Lady herself in Margaret Thatcher – The Long Walk to Finchley. So what is the film about. The film is dramatic representation of some real events that occurred in 1968. Actually I’m not going to talk about the film, I’m going to talk about myself and what I was doing in 1968 and what I remember of those real events. For this particular series of events had a real influence on me and my future conduct in life. On 4/4/1968 Martin Luther King was assassinated. In Birmingham UK just 16 days later the then Shadow Foreign Secretary – Enoch Powell gave his infamous “Rivers of Blood” speech. It didn’t get rid off the colour prejudice or the immigration problem, but it destroyed Enoch Powell. He was forced to resign a few days later and never held a governmental job again. Later on that year some women seamstresses went on strike at the Dagenham Car factory. Within a few days all work at Dagenham had ground to a halt and they weren’t producing any cars. The core reason for the strike was that at that time they were being paid significantly less than men doing the same job. At that time Ford were the biggest car producer in the UK, and the Dagenham plant was the biggest of their UK production sites. At that time I was living in Basingstoke, but most of my family were living in Essex. I was familiar with the Dagenham site and knew several people who worked there. It was on the TV news (black & white in my case) –every day. I must say that my memory may be faulty but I can’t remember any of the women that were on the TV looking anything like as attractive as Sally Hawkins or Andrea Risborough. After a couple of weeks with no result the government of the day became involved. Barbara Castle was as much of a presence on the TV screen as Miranda Richardson is in this portrayal in the film. In 1968 in terms of the Ford dispute, I felt that “I was there”. 1968 was a period of fairly full employment and as a newly promoted member of management for one of the largest employers in Basingstoke, I was aware the politics of what was then called Industrial Relations. For most UK companies at that time there had been a long history of confrontational relationships between the management and the unions. It was always a case of “them & us”. In any conflict the unions always asked for far more than they expected to get, and the management response was usually from a starting point of giving nothing at all. From the mid 60’s on increased job mobility became the norm and increased wages to go with it. Where I worked, with a staff of some 1,600 people annual turnover - with most leaving for higher pay just down the road - was as high as 35%. Our training and induction budgets were being blown out of the water. That situation changed the dynamics of IR dramatically and from the sidelines – as my department was technical and non-unionised – I was able to witness Personnel Managers having to do a quantum leap in their attitude to cope with the new situation. I guess Ford management faced the same problems. So what happened at Dagenham – I don’t know what happens in the film, because I haven’t seen it yet, but in 1968 in Essex the strike was settled. Not for equal pay for the same job, but for 92% of the male rate. In 1970 the Equal Pay Act was introduced. In 2010 there is still significant discrimination against women in the workplace, with both opportunity and earning potential being lower for women than men in the UK. From what I have read and seen, Made in Dagenham is a cracking home grown film that takes a light-hearted look at a real event in our recent history that lead to a slight change in attitude, but to a significant piece of new legislation that is still applicable today. I hope you enjoy the film. |
Made In Dagenham - January 10th
