Toilet Review: Who thought a story about workers in a auto factory would be so interesting?
This is one of those movies that I was putting off for ages. I’m not even sure why I was putting it off, but I remembering seeing it sitting on my desktop for weeks, and each time I was going to watch a movie, I would glance at it. feel guilty for not watching it, and then watch something else. But obviously, I did get around to watching it, and am I glad I did!
The story is set in the Ford factory in Dagenham, UK, in 1968. We meet Rita O Grady, a normal working mother of two, who works at the factory stitching interiors by hand. She and her female co-workers work in less then ideal conditions, but when they get wind that their work status is about to be downgraded from “skilled” to “non-skilled” (meaning they would get paid less), they decide to do something about. So, the women strike, and the story follows a rather reluctant Rita in her position as leader of the strike.
What I really like about this story is that it is a dramatisation of an actual event that happened in 1968 in Dagenham. At the end of the movie, we see snippets of interviews of women that were actually involved in the protests/strike. They talk about how hard it was and what the end goal was for. They talk about how the strike effected their family life and how they were often criticised for leaving their “men to do women’s work”.
This movie is an important movie. It shows how society viewed women at this moment in time, especially when it is supposed to be the decade of “free love” and “equality”. Doesn’t exactly translate that through this movie! Little gem of a movie, and it is the awesome Bob Hoskins in it. Definitely worth a watch.
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