BRITISH FILMS: DIVIDED-DECADES OF THE PAST

In July 2010, it was announced that the UK Film Council would effectively close, which some referred to as 'the end of the British film industry'. The sad fact is, this is arguably the case now, as there hasn't really been any great British films for a good while now. Why? Because there's no money in films that are 'too British' - what ever that means. In Hollywood for example, there's just no room for 'Brit pics' with recognisable English working-class characters. It's a shame really.

That's not to say there isn't talent. One has to only turn to British film director / writer Christopher Nolan, who has gone on to shoot Memento, Inception, The Prestige, The Dark Knight Trilogy and, of course, Interstellar.

Christopher Nolan on-set - Interstellar

Now, Nolan's films are all world-renowned, but maybe that is where lies the problem - they all share the same demographic; everyone! What there is a lack of in today's cinema is true representations of either the British way of life, or British history that are also directed by a Brit. At the Oscars this is ever-present. The Oscar's infatuation with royalty causes blind spots for so many other British films. When both released, The Queen (2006) and The King's Speech (2010) found such favour with Oscar voters, whilst other British films released in 2006 and 2010 passed under the American Academy radar.

Helen Mirren played The Queen in the 2006 biopic

Films about the monarchy are representing us Brits on a global stage, whilst other, truer depictions of the majority 99% of the UK are (most of the time) tossed aside. This could be good reasoning why everyone in The States or mainland Europe think we all live in big ol' castles and drink tea with our pinky finger pricked. This transatlantic tunnel vision was firmly in the spotlight when Ken Loach's 2006 Palme d'Or winner The Wind that Shakes the Barley didn't even get an Oscar nomination. Loach now 80 - who didn't even get the chance to battle it out with The Queen all those years ago - also ironically directed The Smiths' video 'The Queen is Dead', which is probably the reason for his absence from the Oscar's hall of fame. He's yet to receive a single nomination.

There are however some films in this over-looked category that are thankfully great British classics, which we can rightly be proud of, because of their screenplays that show defiance against The Ruling-Class.

Pirate Radio (2009) - decade set: the cultured 60's
Director: Richard Curtis

Original titled The Boat that Rocked, it is a film inspired by the pirate radio era of the early-1960's. By all means not Oscar worthy, the nostalgic film is set in 1966 on a stationary ship that is anchored to the bottom of the North Sea. The film tells the story of the fictitious radio station "Radio Rock" and its deviant disk jockeys broadcasting pop and rock music to the U.K. Throughout the film, the crew aboard are seemingly revolutionary anarchist who use music as a weapon to basically put a finger up to the government, which in turn fuels the persistent endeavour to shut them down. The film itself is slow in parts and some of the writing is not Richard Curtis' best, but Pirate Radio - with all its "meh" and over-the-place structure, possesses a top-draw British cast and a fantastic original soundtrack.

This is England (2006) - decade set: early-80's Thatcher's Britain

Director: Shane Meadows

A burning desire to fit in, belong, be stronger, and taller; all these attributes vex This is England's main protagonist, Shaun - emotionally played Thomas Turngoose. Shaun's father is killed in The Falklands War; a conflict led by at-the-time Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, who was lauded for the unnecessary and ungentlemanly war. At this time, Thatcher was controversially using brute force to break the British Trade Unions and was seen as public enemy No.1 outside of London.

Although This is England has had huge success in Britain, and even had an equally-successful three-part TV mini-series This is England 86, 88 & 90, the film and TV series are still relatively unknown in the US. Take a wild guess at how many Oscar nominations it garnished - answer: zero. Pitiful. The reason for this lack of success 'across the pond' is arguably behind its main plot of concentrating heavily on the tipping point of the rising-English Skinhead culture. The rise of this culture was fuelled by a need to protest against the 1983 governmental stranglehold of The Working Class. What happens at the end of the film, was history in the making; Skinheads became allied with the neo-Nazi National Front and Shaun's desire to belong to a group eventually makes him the one thing he was originally troubled by - a bully, indeed, a racist bully.

Billy Elliot (2000) - decade set: early-80's Thatcher's Britain
Director: Stephen Daldry

Billy Elliot is actually the flip side of the American film Girlfight, which is about a girl who wants to become a boxer, which is opposed by her old-headed father. Billy Elliot is about a young boy (Jamie Bell) forced into boxing lessons, but who wants to be a ballet dancer, which is of course, opposed by his macho father (Gary Lewis) and brother (Jamie Draven), both striking miners,  who equate male ballet dancers with homosexuality, an opinion arguably even shared by Billy himself. The film is set in a 1984 coal mining town in the North East of England and a far cry from any wealth or job opportunities.

Even though the film concentrates heavily on Billy, another focal point is about the father, a supporter of the strike, eventually realises he may have to swallow his pride in order to help Billy achieve his dream, even if that goes against what he believes in. Getting temporary work down 'the pits', at a time when, again, Margaret Thatcher was breaking up the Trade Unions, was seen as a big no-no and anyone working in 'the pits' were referred to as 'scabs'.

Even though there's a whole lot of swearing, which might make some parents fade with the idea of letting their children watch it, Billy Elliot  is the main motivation for this blog piece because, although it's rated 15, it should be watched by people of all ages because of its realism and educational purposes. Also, like Pirate Radio, its soundtrack is top notch, featuring the likes of The Clash and T-Rex.

24 Hour Party People (2002) - decades set: late-70's, 80's and early-90's
Director: Michael Winterbottom

24 Hour Party People is a film about the infamous Manchester music scene, which started with the first legendary Sex Pistols concert in Manchester - a catalyst that sneered to traditional Britain and brought new-wave anarchy to the U.K. The film provides a mix of reality and fantasy, and pushes just far enough in such a funny way no other film has done. Its main character Tony Wilson (Steve Coogan) is the sort of man who is the only person in the room wearing a suit and tie. He sees the future of music with the Sex Pistols and joins with two partners to create Manchester's most important, yet least financially successful recording company, Factory Records. Notable bands sign including Joy Division (renamed New Order after the death of Ian Curtis) and Happy Mondays. Eventually, Factory Records open a rave club in Deansgate, Manchester known as The Hacienda. The club would historically make no money because all the revellers would be so 'drugged-up' before entering, they wouldn't spend a penny once inside. The film also touches on the fact that The Hacienda, a declared "cathedral of music" - with its drug-manic gospel - had a unbeatable atmosphere, but the reality was the great atmosphere was fuelled by ecstasy, not alcohol. This created a new market for drug dealers around Manchester, which would coincidently generate an influx of guns. Drug dealing is a business and what is the main rhetoric of business? To increase the market share and rid the competition - thus creating a late-eighties / early-nineties Manchester that was absolutely 'shitting it' over automatic weapons. The film works because it evokes genuine, not fabricated nostalgia. Its screenplay understands where it was going right, and where it all went wrong (the 1990s). Finally and most importantly, it helps the audience know there is a creative and spiritual city behind all the heavy concentration of Manchester's football teams: "Red or Blue?"

The Full Monty (1997) - decade set: post-steel industrial 90's

Director: Peter Cattaneo

The film's opening scene is of a travelogue of early-1970's Sheffield. It basically showboats the city as a clean metropolis of Europe that will thrive more and more with each year that passes... and then... reality hits. The film then cuts to a deserted and depressing post-industrial Sheffield that was hit hard by the U.K.'s decision to import rather than export. The Full Monty's cast is led by Gaz (Robert Carlyle) and his band of not-so-very merry men, who spend their days 'on the dole' and sat on their arses in the gloomy job centre. Then suddenly, Gaz sees that The Chippendale Dancers are in town and every wife, mother, sister, and daughter have paid top quid to see them. Gaz, being the determined and inventive man that he is, decides to get himself and his troupe on this money-making train of stripping because, let's face it, desperate times call for desperate measures.

Desperation is the undertone of The Full Monty because the unemployed men are seen as a depressing site, and all they want is to do is make the women see them as men again - job or no job. There is one scene in particular where Gerald (Tom Wilkinson), a former middle-class servant - now regular at the job centre - just can not bare to tell his wife about his despairing financial situation, but eventually has to confess all. Throughout the film, the audience will genuinely feel affection for the characters because what they're going through is real and is a result of an industry shutting down and leaving the community stranded. Oh and let's not forget that 'dole queue' scene!