Made in Dagenham

A Roddus Movie Review.

Off to town on a super hot day today so Mrs Roddus could shout me to lunch and a movie for My birthday, which was yesterday. As it was for my birthday,  I got to pick the movie this time and after checking on the net last night, there was very little I really wanted to see, but this one was still showing and looked interesting as I had seen the trailer. This two hour movie starts a little slow, but gives you a real  feel for industrial 60s London.

 Things pick up when Rita O'Grady(Played by the hot Sally Hawkins, In the red dress above), a reluctant and  a little unsure of herself upholstery sewing machine operator in the Dagenham Ford factory becomes an inspiring leader in the fight for equal rights and pay for women by leading a strike by 187 women employed at the Ford factory. The film is based on an actual strike at the ford factory in June 1968 by the above mentioned women, which, after the intervention of Labour secretary of state Barbara Castle, led to the 1970 Equal pay Act. Although I assume Rita is a fictional character, Barbara Castle wasn't and it was inspiring to see then both stand up and fight for the improvement of the rights of their fellow women especially in light of the possible personal risk and loss that could have befallen them if they had failed. This film also highlighted for me the exploitation of the capitalist system of the people who are essential to making it work, all so they can make bigger profits. Those at the top of the capitalist ladder always seem to battle the improvements of their workers by claiming that they can't afford to pay more or whatever and that their businesses would be uneconomical, yet they always survive these improvements and usually still make the obscene profits they feel they are required to make. This film certainly has a dig at this aspect of the capitalist manufacturing machine and also a dig at the unions of the time by depicting them as male dominated, communistic and self interested.

Still the capitalists today have got a lot of their way now by closing most of their manufacturing plants in the western countries where workers rights and pay are a lot better than they were back then and most of their products are sold, by moving them to 3rd world countries and exploiting the workers there and claiming they are helping the locals improve their lives. An entertaining, inspiring and also thought provoking movie. 4/5.