Pride Review

Director: Matthew Warchus

Starring: Bill Nighy, Andrew Scott, Paddy Considine, Dominic West, Imelda Staunton

Running Time: 120 minutes

Certificate: 15

Synopsis: U.K. gay activists work to help miners during their lengthy strike of the National Union of Mineworkers in the summer of 1984.

Based on a true story, PRIDE follows a group called the Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners (LGSM) who decide to raise money for the miners in a mark of solidarity. They soon discover that the miners are largely reluctant to take their donation and need to find a particular community willing to work with them.

Their search takes them to a small community in Wales where many of the residents need some time to learn to accept their new guests. The assembled cast are sublime, with the likes of Paddy Considine, Andrew Scott, Dominic West, Bill Nighy, Imelda Staunton and many more on hand to tell the story. Scott, in particular, puts in a quietly powerful performance as a man forced to face a childhood he has tried hard to ignore. Known for his deliciously sinister Sherlock role of Moriarty, it is refreshing and entrancing to see Scott take on such a low-key role. Yet it loses none of its impact.

Though there is plenty of emotion in the film, there is also an incredible amount of humour, thanks largely to the female cast – led by Staunton – who are on hand to poke fun at the prejudice and call it out. They aren’t afraid to ask questions and don’t shy away from the awkwardness of the meeting and form very strong bonds with the group as a result.

PRIDE touches on many important issues, including prejudice and tolerance and the origins of AIDS. The context is of course the mining strikes and Thatcher’s effect on the UK during her time as Prime Minister. Yet the overall message is simply about supporting each other and not disregarding someone simply because they are different.

With PRIDE, writer Stephen Beresford and director Matthew Warchus have found the perfect balance and, in doing so, made a film that is joyous, full of heart and an absolute pleasure to watch. Thanks to its mixture of serious and silly, a superb cast and great 80s nostalgia, PRIDE really is a thing of beauty.

[usr=5] PRIDE is in UK cinemas now.