Seacoal (1985) User Reviews

Men and women collect coal from the sea on the bleak North East Coast.

[matman_91 · 9/10 · 17 February 2007]

Seacoal is an important record of a disappearing way of life. It takes documentary material and gives it a dramatic core.What is so good is that it takes you to where you have not been before. at the films centre is the simple humanist story of a woman forced to face her prejudice about the travelling community. She arrives after a drunken night out to discover that her boyfriend has bought into the local Klondike. The film reveals her, Betty's,journey of discovery and realisation as she is forced to engage with the women she originally claimed were "living like animals". The sub text is the analysis of capitalism where dog eats dog and winner takes all. It is set in the time of the miners strike of 1984 and the irony is clear to see. Not that the film is heavy handed, in fact the opposite is true, and the interface between actors and none actors is almost seamless.