Pride(2014)
dir. Matthew Warchus
Gay activists back striking miners. The miners notice.
Where to watch: Free on Kanopy, rent on Apple TVLetterboxd ↗
Britain, 1984. A group of London lesbian and gay activists decides the striking coal miners being crushed by the Thatcher government are fighting the same enemy they are, and starts raising money for a Welsh mining village. The village doesn't know what to make of them, and the feeling is mutual. Based on a true story.
Why it’s here
The punk move is the alliance: two groups that had every social reason to stay apart chose solidarity on the strength of a shared opponent, and the film lets the awkwardness, the prejudice and the first dance-floor thaw all play out on screen. The pedagogy is in how organizing actually works. Coalitions get built through food, favors and showing up, not through agreeing on everything, and the film makes that feel like something a viewer could do. It is a crowd-pleasing dramatization, so some characters and events are composited or invented, and it is worth reading up on the real Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners campaign afterward.
Where This Film Lives
Read Alongside
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