Delayed Reaction: Pride

Premise: Gay and lesbian activists raise money for the British miners' strike in 1984.

 

My selection process for what movie to watch next isn't simply "What movie do I think I'll like the best?". I'm often looking for surprises or to get through movies that will give me a better understanding of film or actual history. If I only chose the movies I thought I'd like the best, I would've seen Pride five years ago. I had little doubt about this movie. I've never heard anyone say a bad thing about it. It presents itself as exactly what it is: a feel-good culture clash movie. I could've told you every beat of the movie going in, and that's exactly what I wanted from it.

 

So, yeah. This movie is a god-damn delight. It's a very simple movie about two groups of people finding common ground and growing to like each other. Since it's set 30 years ago, the compromise it's asking for doesn't feel like a stretch. It also removes events enough from the current dialogue that it's hard for any group to feel attacked*. The real magic trick of the movie is that it calibrates the sentimentality pretty perfectly. It stops just short of feeling preachy. The approach isn't so much to shame the people for prejudices. Instead, it concludes that it's silly to get so worked up about this.

 

*I call this the Green Book principle. "People sure were racist back then, right?"

 

I am happy I waited until now to see it for one reason though. The cast is even stronger now. Thanks to 2019, I have stronger feelings about people like Andrew Scott and George MacKay, so the movie didn't have to work as hard to endear me to the ensemble. Not that it needed to work that hard. Imelda Staunton, Paddy Considine, and the other miners/supporters fill their performers with so much earnest decency. Having Bill Nighy cast as one of the miners almost feels like subterfuge in the casting. It's surprising that I haven't seen Ben Schnetzer in more since this, because he's got great "good guy" energy.

 

One note I will make is that Pride is more of a "comedy of good feelings". It has a few good laughs in there - I especially loved Menna Trussler's fascination with the lesbians. Most of the time though, I was smiling rather than laughing. The older I get, the more I appreciate seeing the simple act of people getting along. I really needed this movie.

 

Verdict: Strongly Recommend