Sally Hawkins

The protest that would lead to a significant change in British law guaranteeing equal pay for women begins inauspiciously enough.

It's a summery day in 1968 in the factory town of Dagenham, not far from London.

 

The morning streets are filled with workers bicycling into the massive Ford Motor plant.

Most of the facility is state-of-the art new, but the women are relegated to sewing car-seat covers in an old sweatshop of the type that put the sweat in the shop. It's so hot they strip down to their bras (strictly utilitarian, no Victoria's Secret here) to keep from melting.

The straw that breaks the camel's back and sets the course for the very shrewd fun of "Made in Dagenham" comes when union rep Albert (Bob Hoskins), eyes covered against the barely clad, makes his way to the shop floor to bring news that the women's request to be classed as skilled workers, which would bring a pay upgrade, has been turned down. In a sort of Debbie versus Goliath play led by one of the machinists, Rita O'Grady (Sally Hawkins), they buck the union and Ford executives and start a ripple effect that will impact laws and lives.

"Made in Dagenham" is not assembly-line fare, but enlightenment of the quietest sort -- no real radicals around, and the ones who come close would meet you at the pub for a pint. British director Nigel Cole has an appealingly archway of looking at human foibles, even when dealing with historical fact, which he is here. In "Dagenham," the filmmaker applies just the right pressure in examining why paying someone a fair wage, no matter their gender, shouldn't be all that difficult to agree to. Harrumph.

Hawkins' performance as "Dagenham's" unassuming heroine, Rita, an amalgam of several key figures who stepped up back in the day, is first-rate and already generating some Oscar talk.

Rita's journey of empowerment is the heart of the film, but the screenwriter never forgets this is not just one woman's story. He's stirred up a rich brew of characters to create a cross-section of life and attitudes at the time. On one side is the equal-pay group: blue-collar girls with big dreams led by Jaime Winstone, adorable as a blond bombshell working her short-shorts sisterhood; the Cambridge-educated trophy wife (Rosamund Pike) whose marriage is increasingly fraught; and Miranda Richardson's steely smart secretary of employment among the best.

On the other, we have the smarmy union leader Monty (Kenneth Cranham), a couple of sycophants as undersecretaries (and comic relief), and of course the Ford suits both in Britain and stateside, with Richard Schiff (missed terribly since Toby and "The West Wing" shut down) doing a nice turn at being heartless from the heartland.

 

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"Made In Dagenham" Movie Trailer

 

MPAA rating: R (for language and brief sexuality).

Running time: 1:53.

Cast: Sally Hawkins (Rita O'Grady); Bob Hoskins (Albert); Kenneth Cranham (Monty); Rosamund Pike (Lisa); Richard Schiff (Robert Tooley).

Credits: Directed by Nigel Cole; written by William Ivory; produced by Stephen Woolley, Elizabeth Karlsen. A Sony Pictures Classics release.

 

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