Chichester Cinema at New Park
Made in Dagenham
A feisty dramatization of the 1968 strike at the Ford Dagenham car plant, where female workers walked out in protest against sexual discrimination.
Starring the award winning Sally Hawkins as Rita O’Grady, the catalyst for the 1968 Ford Dagenham strike by 187 sewing machinists which led to the advent of the Equal Pay Act. Working in extremely impoverished conditions for long arduous hours which they must balance with their domestic lives, the women at the Ford Dagenham plant finally lose their patience when they are reclassified as “unskilled”.
With humour, common sense and courage they take on their corporate paymasters, an increasingly belligerent local community, and finally the government itself. The leader of the women’s struggle is fast-talking, no nonsense Rita whose fiery temper and occasionally hilarious unpredictability proves to be a match for any of her male opponents, and is echoed by Barbara Castle's (Miranda Richardson) struggle in the male-dominated House of Commons.
Director Nigel Cole states “I like a mixture of warmth and comedy and strong drama and this is exactly that. And, for reasons I can never quite fathom, I’m more interested in women’s stories than men’s.” Cole is able to see some parallels between ‘Made in Dagenham’ and his 2003 hit ‘Calendar Girls’. “It’s that idea of ordinary women getting caught up in something much bigger than them”, he explains.
Produced by Stephen Woolley, the terrific cast includes Bob Hoskins, Geraldine James, Rosamunde Pike, Andrea Riseborough, Kenneth Cranham, Rupert Graves and John Sessions as Harold Wilson!
UK · 2010 · Nigel Cole · 112min
