Ostensibly this is about the dynamics of a strike in Ipswitch but it really deals with a much more general question -- what attitude do we take towards someone who doesn't conform? Suppose there is a genuine source of concern about worker safety in a factory. Suppose management is willing to look into the matter and take corrective measures. Suppose, provoked by an outside organizer, the union strikes anyway, although without the backup of a national union they'll have to live on their own money. Suppose one poor factory stiff, in the person of Richard Attenborough, has a wife and kid to take care of and can't survive on the little he's saved and decides to work anyway.
What do you -- the average worker who has gone along with the rest and stayed home -- do about (or to) Richard Attenborough who is weakening the collective stance? In this instance, you'd use a tactic of alienation that the Old Order Amish call "shunning." You don't speak to him, look at him, or pay any attention to him at all. You give him non-person treatment. Then, as the general hatred gains its own autonomous momentum, you run him over with a car, hospitalize him, and cost him an eye. Then finally you wake up and realize that things have gone a little too far, especially in the face of the willingness of some in management to cooperate.
The more abstract questions, of course, have to do with non-conformity. Suppose, instead of an ordinary grimy factory worker, it's a homosexual? Or, in a community that belongs exclusively to one political party, the guy voices opinions too closely resembling those of the opposition party. Or maybe he's just unusually dumb, ugly, or fat. Suppose he smokes cigarettes.
You can see that this exceptional film is getting at more than labor relations in 1960s England.
It's well done without being a masterpiece. The direction by Guy Green is functional and not splashy. The performances are all up to par, as you'd expect from such a seasoned cast. Pier Angeli, as Attenborough's wife, is surprisingly effective. She's not a kid anymore but retains that piping girlish voice. The film doesn't glamorize her either, although she's quite beautiful despite the homely braids and drab garb.
Nice job overall.
What do you -- the average worker who has gone along with the rest and stayed home -- do about (or to) Richard Attenborough who is weakening the collective stance? In this instance, you'd use a tactic of alienation that the Old Order Amish call "shunning." You don't speak to him, look at him, or pay any attention to him at all. You give him non-person treatment. Then, as the general hatred gains its own autonomous momentum, you run him over with a car, hospitalize him, and cost him an eye. Then finally you wake up and realize that things have gone a little too far, especially in the face of the willingness of some in management to cooperate.
The more abstract questions, of course, have to do with non-conformity. Suppose, instead of an ordinary grimy factory worker, it's a homosexual? Or, in a community that belongs exclusively to one political party, the guy voices opinions too closely resembling those of the opposition party. Or maybe he's just unusually dumb, ugly, or fat. Suppose he smokes cigarettes.
You can see that this exceptional film is getting at more than labor relations in 1960s England.
It's well done without being a masterpiece. The direction by Guy Green is functional and not splashy. The performances are all up to par, as you'd expect from such a seasoned cast. Pier Angeli, as Attenborough's wife, is surprisingly effective. She's not a kid anymore but retains that piping girlish voice. The film doesn't glamorize her either, although she's quite beautiful despite the homely braids and drab garb.
Nice job overall.