Reviews

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  ★★★½ review by Grimbo on Letterboxd

  I was a kid when this all happened but I remember hearing about it and Arthur Scargill becoming a household name, so it was very interesting to hear about the miner's strike and understand it!!

  As someone who was brought up with Maggie Thatcher as the ultimate heel, this helps to back that up! A charmless monster of a woman who makes it seem kinda normal that Donald Trump could also be voted in too!!

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  ★★★★★ review by Mark Cunliffe on Letterboxd

  I've no words, this is just an incredibly powerful film whose main message, that Thatcher ruined everything for the the industries in this country and its working class and that we're still suffering from her arrogant, idealogically hate filled decisions to this day, is absolutely true.

  Have some Billy Bragg instead

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  ★★★★★ review by ffsimo on Letterboxd

  I’ve never been so moved by a documentary, but that one woman that was like “she makes the best tea in Ponte” was wrong... I make the best tea in Ponte pal

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  ★★★★ review by Vanina on Letterboxd

  First time I've been to the cinema with a socialist mafnifestation going on outside.

  This is a remarkable documentary about the miners strike in 1984-85, which manages to convey the emotions of that year. The men (and women) selected to talk about their experiences are all incredible story tellers and you can tell that this was their defining moment; they are charismatic, passionate and their stories of personal sacrifice really bring home how seminal the strike was.

  My only complaint about the film, as someone born outside of the UK two years after the strike, is that it does expect the viewer to know a fair bit about the laws in the UK, and the state of politics at the time. While I could fully relate to the personal stories, the various turning points leading up to the strike and which brought it to a close, were mentioned very briefly, and I found it difficult to fully understand.

  Also, it is very much a story of the miners on strike - I feel it would have been worthwhile to have someone from the Nottingham collieries who worked through the strike to get their perspectives. Maybe that's not the story the filmmakers were trying to tell, I understand that, but I think the interesting thing about the strike is the rift between doing things for the greater good of all working men, and looking after your own interest. After all, during the winter of that year, men started going back to work after the strike was beginning to feel doomed and because their families were going hungry.

  In the whole film, Labour is not mentioned once. During the Q&A after the film, the producer did say Labour was not included in the story they wanted to tell (of the men on the ground), but again, in a country where the political system consists of two major players, it's very noticable and odd to not mention Labour at all.

  Either way, the film succeeds in telling the story of the men on the ground, and the men featured in the film are remarkable - intelligent, funny, passionate, and their stories are what is important to the film.

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  ★★★★½ review by Chris Speddings on Letterboxd

  A Brilliant Documentary looking at the Miners who fought back during the Miners Strike of 1984. An incredibly powerful documentary. It brought me to tears and made me furious all within the 2 hours of this film. I personally appreciate this film and the views that it holds are very similar/the same as mine. These are biased and don't present the other side of the argument however I found it was a powerful doc, and I enjoyed the perspective that it gives, partly due to the fact it reinforced my personal views, beliefs and morals. Yet I also found it very informative. I consider myself to be quite informed about the Miners strike and the politics and social context which surrounds it. However I learnt lots from the personal accounts of the conditions and situations the miners found themselves in.

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