Sally Hawkins is perfect in this funny and touching salute to working women. Set in 1968, “Made in Dagenham” tells the fact-based tale of the strike by female employees for pay parity with the men at the Ford Motor plant in Dagenham, England. Working from a script by William Ivory, director Nigel Cole creates a vivid sense of time and place while handling thi serious topic with a light touch.
Hawkins plays Rita O’Grady, the wife and mother who becomes the unlikely voice for the women car upholsterers in her sweatshop who resent being classified and paid as ‘unskilled’ labor. Rita’s union rep (Bob Hoskins) encourages her to take a leadership role and she discovers she has an inner core of steel. Though the strike puts her at odds with her husband (Daniel Mays), Rita’s fight against sexist attitudes brings her closer to other women, including Lisa Hopkins (an excellent Rosamund Pike), the Cambridge-educated wife of one of Ford’s executives and government minister Barbara Castle (Miranda Richardson). Hawkins, Pike and Richardson are outstanding and you can’t help but cheer for “Made in Dagenham.” 11/21/10
1 comment:
I think this is one of the better films of the year. Sally Hawkins was great in her role as a woman activist fighting for equal pay for equal work. Go see this, you will enjoy!!
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