The true story of Rita O’Grady who lead a campaign for sexual equality in the workplace in the late 1960s. Political history to be proud of.
Unfortunately the film itself doesn’t reflect its subject’s ambitions. It’s formulaic, painfully blatantly aims to hit big red emotional buttons (cry… now! Laugh… now!) and yet still fails to hit half of them and the initial premise fails to reach an adequate resolution in an ill-paced speedy wrap-up. If there’s a good story in there at all it isn’t well told.
The 1960s landscape looks great and although some performances are unconvincing (John Sessions, not helped by some awful lines, attempts to portray Harold Wilson by mixing impressions of Winston Churchill and Alec Guinness), Bob Hoskins and Rosamund Pike are good, Miranda Richardson is superb as Barbara Castle and Sally Hawkins, well, she’s quite special. Eminently watchable as a charismatic, charming heroine that compels the viewer to invest in and get behind, she really is world class.
Made in Dagenham plays it safe and, as a result, is entertaining enough but the unchallenging film demonstrates little artistic merit.
30th Sep 2010 | Official site | On IMDb
