Rating: 4 /5 Stars

By Samantha Relph, Cinema Manager 
Dorothy Browns Cinema, Arrowtown.

From the Director of Calendar Girls and with a line up of Britain’s top thespians, I was really looking forward to seeing MADE IN DAGENHAM and it didn’t disappoint.

The film is inspired by the true story of the 1968 strike at the Ford Dagenham car plant when women workers marched to Westminster carrying a banner with the words “We want sexual equality”. Unfortunately the banner was not fully unfurled and simply read “We want sex” – but I suppose both were worthy causes!

Our heroine is Rita (played by Golden Globe winner, Sally Hawkins), a normal working class mother who finds herself leading the woman factory workers to a strike in protest of being regarded as unskilled workers. Soon she is embroiled in union politics and the consequences of their action. As the production line dwindles, other workers are laid off. Rita’s husband, Eddie complains about hardship all round – and that he is down to his last clean shirt! However, as tensions rise Rita remains courageous and the girls eventually win through, changing history forever.
The film concludes with a montage of the real life characters, perhaps revealing that this is a slightly more refined version of events but nevertheless this film is witty, feel-good drama at its best.

Don’t miss: Miranda Richardson as the fiery redheaded cabinet minister, Barbara Castle.