LGBT rights, trade unionism and comedic drama make for intriguing bedfellows in this surprisingly uplifting true story from Simpatico director Matthew Warchus. The Thatcher-era tale recounts the unlikely bond between striking Welsh miners and their unexpected allies, the pressure group Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners. Operating in the same milieu as Billy Elliot and The Full Monty, as with those films Pride combines serious topics with broad, crowd-pleasing humour, making for easy if forgettable watching.
Featuring an ensemble of likeable characters, Pride’s arc is a slowburning platonic ‘romance’ between LGSM and the beneficaries of their fundraising generosity, the Dulais Valley pit community. Thanks to the intervention of straight-talking locals Paddy Considine, Bill Nighy and Imelda Staunton, the Valley dwellers’ initial hostility turns to grateful acceptance, albeit with some charmingly innocent misconceptions.
However the characters are also dealing with their own individual dramas: charismatic group leader and party-lover Mark (Ben Schnetzer) is struggling to commit to Mike (Joe Gilgun); sensitive Gethin (Andrew Scott) struggles to reconnect with his estranged family; flamboyant actor Jonathan (Dominic West) is hiding deep tragedy behind all the wisecracks; and young student Joe’s (George MacKay) coming-of-age coincides with his coming out.
Warchus deftly handles the larger-than-life cast of characters, and also balances the serious topics of politics, AIDS and social stigma while throwing in enough one-liners, irreverent characters and upbeat party scenes to inspire smiles as well as tears. The more harrowing aspects are whitewashed to keep the film decidedly mainstream, while lesbian stereotypes are played for easy laughs. Still, amiable performances all-round make Pride broadly enjoyable and inspiring – if not as affecting as such a fantastic story could have been.