Movie Review: Pride (2014)

This was a solid movie.

It began taking place in 1984, before I was a fetus. The protagonists are some not-straight Londoners (I don't want to bother with the acronym right now) who dress like a Grease revival, led by a guy named Mark whose primary character traits are always looking like he just had a shocking idea and making immature decisions regarding what he's upset about. The non-straight Londoners realized they had the same enemies as the mine workers, aka the miners (which never stops sounding like "minors" in the film), who include Bill Nighy, who always seems like he has dementia. The miners let them drive really far in a bus up a massive hill more or less because of a misunderstanding involving the "L" in the acronym "LGSM" (Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners -- they thought the "L" stood for "London.")

By the way, that is the stupidest, least catchy name for a group ever. I want you all to know, loyal readers, that if you want to start a group, especially one that isn't going to get tons of support, name it something at least slightly memorable.

Also, by the way, why did Thatcher hate miners so much? God! They're getting coal for you and shit! Someone has to do that! And anyway, it's dangerous! And they're doing it! You want trains? Don't trains sometimes run on coal? Maybe that's a train stereotype. Regardless, you want to have a way to punish bad kids on Christmas? What's the deal with this?

Yeah.

Anyway, there are some great female miners, primarily a chick named Sian, which I thought was a Welsh way of saying "Sharon" for the duration of the film. She was a real historical figure and if she was anything like her character, she made me cry three times. There was also an elderly lady who seemed to conflate lesbianism and veganism.

However, one flaw in the film was that there was an antagonist, an angular Picasso-looking woman with two forgettable sons, who wasn't challenging enough. Also, the miners were critical and prejudiced to potentially the least degree they could have been depicted. I think in real life more of the prejudice and bigotry at that time would have spawned from AIDS and HIV.

There's an excellent subplot about being in the closet and being forced out by your parents. Everything about Joe's character was great. He hid all his photographs that could out him inside children's books. He had a sister who looked like my hairdresser from childhood, and she was also an antagonist. In reading the wikipedia about this film to learn how to spell Welsh words like Onllwyn and Sian I learned a new concept. The concept is called "audience surrogate," and Joe was apparently one. It's a character the audience can identify with.

I recommend this movie. It's the actual best movie I have reviewed yet, and I learned a lot. On the scale from Beetle Juice to a hypothetical feminist version of the Lego Movie, I rank this close to Dear White People.