Pride

*Dedicated to Mark Ashton who fought for everybody’s rights, not just ours*

This film was among the first gay films that I ever saw, and as such has had a prolific impact on me. I’d like to write a non-biased review but LGBT media is very important. They bring stories from this community and its history and they preserve them for the coming generations. It also brings these tales into the limelight for the public who, quite frankly, are under-educated in such things.

“Pride” takes place from 1984 to 1985, a time when being homosexual was still a crime. Nobody gave a damn, not the press, not the police and not the government. This story shows how, through solidarity with striking miners, Lesbians & Gays Support the Miners changed that. The story centres around Joe who, at 20 years old, is still classed as a minor in the eyes of the law. He joins LGSM in their crusade, unknown to his parents who believe hes attending a pastry course at college. We journey from their headquarters, a gay bookstore in London, to Onllwyn in Wales, where the bigotry seems to be dissipating. Our finale sees the miners from all over Wales joining LGSM at the front of the Gay Pride March in 1985, a truly beautiful moment.

As someone who was still closeted upon this films release, I really appreciated how unapologetically gay this film was, and I still do. The soundtrack is comprised solely of songs that would have played in a gay nightclub in the 80s. It isn’t at all shy in showing the troubles of LGBT people at the time, especially when talking about the AIDS crisis.

The highlights of this film are Dominic West, who gets a beautifully choreographed dance scene, and Andrew Scott as his boyfriend. All the performances in this film are superb, especially from Imalda Staunton who played Dolores Umbridge in Harry Potter. There she was perfectly despicable but here she is just lovable. There are also some wonderful shots of the Welsh countryside which compliment the smaller shots of the village.

This film is an emotionally charged story with very emotional performance and I cannot give it an unbiased review. I adore this film, please go watch it.

Until Next Time…