Ever since I first saw the posters of 'Made in Dagenham' I have been excited. I was first made aware of the film by the poster (rare these days) and was interested immediately - a film with 'Dagenham' in the title! I come from just up the road of Dagenham in nearby Ilford, so anything that is 'Made in Dagenham' had to be exciting. Then I found out what the film was about, the true story of a group of female 'unskilled' workers go on strike for the right to equal pay - and win! It was as if I'd commissioned the British Film Council to make my perfect film!Trouble is that expectations get too high. The reviews were mixed, some were saying that it was trying to be like 'Full Monty' and failing, others said that it was being a too idealistic and right-on with its portrayal of the women. Thankfully Mark Kermode thought it was great - but then I have a history of disagreeing with him when he likes things. I was nervous.
As the film opens we see the girls of Ford Dagenham laughing and getting on with their jobs. They have a camaraderie and show little or no militant tendency. This is the summer of 1968 though, and with revolution happening over the world it is the most normal thing for them to have a day's stoppage when they are downgraded from semi to un-skilled. Only after management use heavy-handed tactics to scare them into submission does Rita emerge. Respected by the others, she argues for and leads them into an indefinite stoppage. At first all they want is to be re-graded as semi-skilled, soon though the issue widens into equal pay.
It was pointed out in the Guardian that 'Made in Dagenham' follows in a long line of British comedy / drama films set around the economic hardships of layoffs, industrial unrest and a changing world where skilled manufacturing labour is told it is no longer wanted. To name but a few - The Full Monty, Billy Elliot and Calendar girls. But what sets 'Made in Dagenham' apart is that the the characters fight back against the cuts and layoffs - and win! The women in the film recognise the injustice of their situation and stand up to do something about it. Rita is a wonderful character, not once does she spout left-leaning slogans or call anyone comrade, she is simply an ordinary person forced into extraordinary things by circumstance. Rosamund Pike's character tells her about how she read history in Cambridge and was fascinated by the people who make history, she then asks Rita to tell her what it feels like when she does the same. The message is clear: history can be made by normal people just as much as it can by kings and queens.
Making history is not an easy process though. Rita is harassed by her own union wanting to not rock the boat, the Ford bosses screaming that equal pay would destroy profitability (that old lie) and finally her friends and husband who - although trying to support her - struggle to cope with the economic realities of being on strike. The cracks in Rita's marriage and friendships demonstrate the truth of striking and put to bed the myth that it's all about workers being lazy and trying to get time off. It's one of the film's strongest themes.
The film does have a couple of downsides. Mostly that the feminist message is rammed home a little too strongly at times. The moment when one of the girls writes 'equal pay now' or some other slogan on her midriff during a photo shoot for Ford cars is a little odd. And did we really need Rita's husband shooting himself in the foot quite so emphatically by telling her what a paragon he is simply because he's never hit her? "That is as it should be!" she is right to exclaim in response, and though this is the main point of the film it just ends up making him look like a dick.
Thankfully these are very minor faults, and the film faithfully tells a tale of ordinary people struggling through hardships to win something that these days we all accept as a right. It reminds us that almost everything good and progressive in our society is something that someone had to fight tooth and nail to get. From the universal voting rights to women's suffrage to the creation of the NHS to the right to trial by jury, someone had to suffer hardship to get it.
The world is a different place now to what it was in the 1960s, but when Rita stands up in front of the TUC and addresses the dinosaurs of the union movement her question struck a chord with me - when did we in Britain forget how to fight? "Made in Dagenham" is nothing less than inspirational.
Wow; where do I begin: Like you Dean, I know the Dagenham area pretty well. I also worked at Ford Dagenham in the 1970's and I have been active within the TGWU for many years. So, like you I was anticipating watching Made in Dagenham with unusual enthusiasm.
ReplyDeleteHaving watched the film I must say that I have mixed feelings about it's accuracy to detail and it's value as a social commentary:
First of all my negative points:
Babera Castle is portrayed as something of a heroine, being on the workers side and at odds with Wilson. This totally ignores the fact that whilst she undoubtably pioneered the Equal Pay Act, she also, at the behest of Wilson, produced a Green Paper document entitled 'In Place of Strife'. This was the first attempt since the second world war to restrict the power of British trade unions. The then Tory opposition, particularly the mp for North Finchley, learnt from this and developed their own nasty programme for attacking the unions. So Castle must be seen in this wider context, not through rose tinted glasses.
As for the union full-time stooges: I thought that these characters were shallow, stereotyped, one dimensional and far too easy to just 'knock over'. In the real world industrial relations are a lot more complicated and corruption within unions is somewhat more discreet. It also pervades the lower levels of union organisation; shop stewards; convenors etc. Made in Dagenham did not reflect this.
Neither did it bother to mention that in 1968 London dockers, with local TGWU support marched on Parliament in support of the racist views of Enoch Powell!
One last historical inaccuracy: the scene at Ford HQ Michigan shows the Ford directors asking whether Rita is a member of the SWP. The SWP did not exist in the UK in 1968. It was launched in the early 1970's ( possibly as late as 1976) when the International Socialists folded.
Ok, enough of the negative. Overall Made in Dagenham is a huge triumph, it raises awareness of one of the most courageous and successful disputes in recent memory and puts on the record the achievement of 'real' Essex girls.
Let's be honest, in the late 1960's early 1970's so many of us young men were dithering, debating, disillusioned and are reasonably well reflected in the film Cemetary Junction. I plead guilty. But whilst we were looking for inspiration, ideas, ideology etc, these 'real' Essex girls, got off their crimplene enclosed backsides, they took on the biggest union in the UK and allit's corrupt officials, they took on the giant Ford motor company, and they ultimately won.
So what if they had no politics? So what if they were'in your face' Essex girls? Their legacy is that they achieved more in this one dispute than all of the union beurocrats did in a decade when they did enjoyed power and influence.
Made in Dagenham, despite it's shortcommings will keep alive the 'when did we forget how to fight' spirit and hopefully, will ensure a new meaning to the term ; Essex girl!