Pride (2014)

Directed by Matthew Warchus. Starring Ben Schnetzer, George MacKay, Faye Marsay, Paddy Considine, Joseph Gilgun, Dominic West, Imelda Staunton, Bill Nighy, Andrew Scott, Lisa Palfrey, Jessica Gunning, Liz White, Rhodri Meilir, Freddie Fox, Chris Overton, Joshua Hill. [R]

Based-in-truth story of a gay rights activist group in mid-1980s London devoting themselves to the cause of striking miners, adopting the name “Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners” (LGSM). A wobbly crowd-pleaser of conflicting layers designed to inspire feelings of comic joy and thoughtless solidarity—we like these characters, we like their agenda and drive, but do we like how the movie goes about its business? A lot of realities, both hard-hitting and informational, are glossed over like chocolate-coating on one of Miracle Max’s pills, and the movie is scattered among too many figures competing for focus, a case of an armload of pop-up protagonists in place of a proper (and supportive) ensemble. Yet it’s almost as savvy as it is facile, and it possesses the capacity to “convince to march” missing in so many more grounded, sober treatments of uplifting underdogs, fictional or historical. Like the narrative checklist and persona roster, the soundtrack is also overstuffed but satisfying (the commercially-released album runs more than two-and-a-half hours). Some of the real-life LGSM members can be spotted in background cameos.

65/100