'Pride' Film Review

Spoiler alert: This review talks about the final scene of the film

I don’t cry much. But then I found myself blubbering at Hayley’s death on Corrie, and the bittersweet hope at the end of Billy Elliot the Musical. And now I’ve cried at Pride. Perhaps it’s proof that I’m really a working class Northerner. More likely it’s testament to the beauty and emotion of Pride, a gloriously British film from the opening scene.

It’s 1984. Mark heads to the annual London Gay Pride march and decides they need to raise money for striking miners. That night in Gay’s the Word bookshop¸ LGSM (Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners) begins. With homophobia and exclusion never too far below the surface, the group supports and visits the mining village of Onllwyn in Wales, creating a friendship of solidarity to take on Margaret Thatcher’s oppression.

The film emotionally embellishes LGSM’s true story with gentle humour and beauty in every scene. You won’t find a more British ‘coming out’ scene than one deep inside Wales’ stunning valleys. There’s a conversation we don’t hear of mother and gay son being reconciled after 16 years. And there’s the ultimate truth that phobia of others (in this case, homophobia) is always ended by friendship.

Pride is not a story about being gay. The rather cheery peek into 1980s gay life that opens the film is eroded away as it continues, unravelling the reality of that tragic time. Estranged families. Leaving home. Firecrackers and brutal homophobic violence. Aids. These were the attacks the entire London Gay scene lived with that the exceptional ensemble cast and script share with everyone. Thankfully in the UK those attacks are largely in the past, a past that was very much the present when I was born.

It was only at the end that I cried. Throughout the whole film, you knew the pits will close. You knew another homophobic blow would hit in the next scene. I’d lost sight of the comedy in the real-life drama. So the ending was a triumphant surprise as bus-loads of miners arrived in London with their village banners to lead the 1985 London Pride march.

Suddenly I saw the symmetry that had been on screen for two hours. The banner parades of Onllwyn and mining communities across the UK, that continue today, take place for the same reason as Gay Pride parades. Community. Freedom. Solidarity. I was left inspired, empowered, angry, loved. And ready to shout out. The battles have moved on, but the need for justice and solidarity across the world hasn’t.

Before Pride in London on Saturday 25th June, I'm watching films focusing on LGBT issue. My next review will be the Oscar winning 'Milk'.