made in Dagenham

We went to see ‘Made in Dagenham’ this week and as I have a few friends who hail from there, I’d better watch what I say! No need on this occasion, however, because I thought this was simply a great film.

For those who haven’t caught up with this one, it’s about the strike at the Dagenham Ford factory in 1968 that led to the Equal Pay Act. As the film decided upon for our next film club discussion, it had many of the ingredients for plenty to talk about.

Well made – Philip French (Guardian) introduced his review with …. ‘given the Calandar Girls treatment. Well, I liked the Calendar Girls too and my very near name sake directed both, so biased? I thought it was done well.

Thought provoking – wow 1968 wasn’t long ago is what made me sit up straight. I’m old enough to remember who won the League & FA Cup in 1968, but not who went on strike. A lot has changed since then. What still needs to happen?

Feel good – I don’t think it’ll be just those who consider themselves to be of working class stock who’ll feel good about this. It felt like a triumph for the working class, women, the underprivileged, the overlooked, the downtrodden, the ordinary majority, etc. Yep felt good – even a round of applause afterwards, but then Tony Benn was a local MP at the time.

Funny – I laughed out loud several times, bit wasn’t embarrassed, didn’t even get poked in the ribs, because everyone else seemed to enjoy it too.

Serious – what does this teach about the Kingdom of God? That’s the question I’ll be taking to the film club discussion. I’m also hoping one of my friends who told me his Auntie was one of the women will be letting me know whether local Christians engaged with this in any way.