Take one poverty stricken town, add in a young attractive couple, and a home-grown band. It's a tried and true formula that's worked for quite a few films, with mixed degrees of success. But writer/director Mark Herman's story is a bit different -- for one, it doesn't shy away from the misery that wracked England during the time Margaret Thatcher was in office, and the other is that it's not a saccharine little tale.
Despite being a profitable pit and colliery (a coal mine, in other words), the town of Grimsley is in trouble. Nearly everyone in the town works either for the mine, or in a business supported by the mine, and rumors are running fast that the mine will be closed. One of the morale boosters of the town is the brass band that is composed of miners working in the pit. And it's within the band that we get to see the story of Grimsley unfold.
There's the band leader, Danny (Pete Postlethwaite), who dreams of great things for his band -- if he could just give them some hope. There's his son, Phil (Stephen Tompkinson), who's struggling not just with work, but his failing marriage and no way to fix it. And there's Andy (Ewan MacGregor), who's facing a future with little hope or luck. All three of them desparately want the mine to stay open.
Surprise -- and luck -- come in the form of Gloria (Tara Fitzgerald), the lovely young woman who grew up in Grimsley, and now has come home to work. She also plays a pretty mean flugelhorn herself, which endears her to several of the band members, especially Danny, who sees in her a bit of hope.
So does Andy. Seems he and Gloria had a bit of a thing together when they were school, and that spark is just about flame it self up again. There's just a little problem -- Gloria works for management; is she going to be friend or foe to the band?
While other directors and studios might have taken this and turned it into a comedy, this independent film took the harder, and more dignified route. It decided to take a very real problem, and show both the humor and tragedy in it, which kept the characters dignity in place. One particularly harrowing story is that of Phil, Danny's son, who not only loses his job, but his mind as well in a tragic sequence during a children's party in a church, and then comes home to find that his wife and children have left him.
Best of all is the ending, which I won't disclose here, but it shows exactly what I would like to think a lot of us would do in the same situation. It's also a fair condemnation of government that favors big business and money over the welfare and well-being of the citizens. Is it anti-Thatcher? You betcha.
Not for young children, as the language gets a bit coarse throughout the film. But it's a good film about keeping your dignity when everything is going wrong.
Recommended:
Yes
Viewing Format: DVD Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older
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