Saturday Night at the Movies by Dennis Hartley: No future --- Top 5 Thatcher era films

High Hopes – "Guess what its name is?" asks Shirley (Ruth Sheen), whilst pointing at a potted cactus plant. When their houseguest shrugs, her husband Cyril (Philip Davis) chimes in, "Thatcher! Because it's a pain in the ass; prongs you every time you walk past it." Cyril (an old-school Marxist who works as a motorbike messenger) and the earth-motherly Shirley are at the center of Mike Leigh's wonderful 1988 character study. In his usual leisurely yet compelling fashion, Leigh pulls you right into the world of this sweet, unpretentious working-class couple and the people in their orbit. There's Cyril's elderly mum (Edna Dore), with whom he dutifully stays in close touch with (despite the fact that she voted Tory in the last election, much to his chagrin). Cyril's shrill, superficial and self-centered sister Valerie (Heather Tobias) is a piece of work; while she also stays in touch with Mum, she sees it as a bothersome chore. Her exasperated husband (Martin Burke) is starting to view his marriage as a bothersome chore. And then there is an obnoxious yuppie couple (Lesley Manville and David Bamber) that you will love to hate. Many of Leigh's recurring themes are present; particularly class warfare and family dynamics (the thread about Cyril's aging mother reminds me of Ozu's Tokyo Story). And like most of Leigh's films, it’s insightful, funny, poignant and ultimately life-affirming.

Ploughman's Lunch - In a 2009 article in The Guardian, a number of UK writers, artists, musicians, filmmakers and arts critics weighed in regarding Thatcherism's effect on each of their respective fields. This was theatre and film director Richard Eyre's take:

Thatcher's relentless emphasis on money and management and marketing illuminated the value of things that couldn't be quantified, and her moronic mantra "there's no such thing as society" gave the humanitarian and moral a conspicuous importance. So, although I didn't think it at the time, it's possible that Thatcher gave the arts a shot in the arm.

And indeed, Eyre's 1983 film is probably the most politically subversive of my five selections. Bolstered by Ian McEwan's incisive screenplay, the story is set on the eve of the Falklands War. Jonathan Pryce tackles the unenviable task of making us care about an inherently smarmy protagonist with considerable aplomb. Pryce plays a cynical Oxford-educated Radio London news writer who falls madly in love with a TV journalist (Charlie Dore). She reciprocates in a platonic fashion. Frustrated, Pryce begs a pal (Tim Curry) who also happens to be Dore's long-time co-worker for ideas. Curry suggests that Pryce, who has been commissioned to write a book on the Suez Crisis, could score points by ingratiating himself with Dore's mother (Rosemary Harris), an historian who once wrote a commemorative article on that very subject. Pryce's love life takes a few unexpected turns. While it may sound more like a soap opera than a political statement, McEwan's script cleverly draws parallels between the self-serving sexual machinations of the characters and what he may have felt Thatcher was (figuratively) "doing" to Britain at the time. It's interesting to note that the denouement, which features the three journalists covering the 1982 Conservative Party Conference, was surreptitiously filmed at the actual event (you’ll see snippets of Thatcher's address) as the actors nonchalantly mingled in with the crowd (a gimmick that begs comparisons with Haskell Wexler's Medium Cool ).

Radio On - You know how you develop an inexplicable emotional attachment to certain films? This no-budget 1979 offering from writer-director Christopher Petit, shot in stark B&W is one such film for me. That being said, I should warn you that it is not going to be everyone's cup of tea, because it contains one of those episodic, virtually plotless "road trip" narratives that may cause drowsiness for some viewers after about 15 minutes. Yet, I feel compelled to revisit this one at least once a year. Go figure. A dour London DJ (David Beames), whose estranged brother has committed suicide, heads to Bristol to get his sibling's affairs in order and attempt to glean what drove him to such despair (while quite reminiscent of the setup for Get Carter, this is not a crime thriller...far from it). He has encounters with various characters, including a friendly German woman, a sociopathic British Army vet who served in Northern Ireland, and a rural gas-station attendant (played by Sting!) who kills time singing Eddie Cochran songs. But the "plot" doesn't matter. As the protagonist journeys across an England full of bleak yet perversely beautiful industrial landscapes in his boxy sedan, accompanied by a moody electronic score (mostly Kraftwerk and David Bowie) the film becomes hypnotic. A textbook example of how the cinema is capable of capturing and preserving the zeitgeist of an ephemeral moment (e.g. England on the cusp of the Thatcher era) like no other art form.

Sammy and Rosie Get Laid- I think that the thing I adore most about this criminally underappreciated 1987 dramedy from accomplished British director Stephen Frears (My Beautiful Laundrette, Prick Up Your Ears, Dangerous Liaisons,The Grifters, High Fidelity) is that it is everything that the Rush Limbaughs of the world fear and despise the most: Pro-feminist, gay-positive, anti-fascist, pro-multiculturalism, anti-colonialist and Marxist-friendly. In other words, they don’t make ‘em like this anymore (no 3-D potential there, I’d reckon). At first glance, Sammy (Ayub Khan-Din) and Rosie (Frances Barber) are just your average middle-class London couple. However, their lifestyle is somewhat unconventional. For example, they have adapted a libertine approach to their marriage; giving each other an unlimited pass to take lovers on the side (the implied in-joke of the movie title is that Sammy and Rosie seemingly “get laid” with everyone but each other). They also don’t seem to mind that their neighborhood has turned into a veritable war zone; ethnic and political unrest has led to nightly riots and clashes with police (this is unmistakably Thatcher’s England; Frears bookends with ironic excerpts from her speeches). However, when Sammy’s estranged father (Shashi Kapoor), a former Indian government official haunted by ghosts from his murky political past, returns to London after a long absence, everything goes topsy-turvy for the couple. Wonderful performances abound (including the great Claire Bloom, and Fine Young Cannibals lead singer Roland Gift), buoyed by the fine direction and a literate script (by Hanif Kureishi).

This is England - This film from director Shane Meadows (Once Upon a Time in the Midlands) was released in 2007, but is set during the Thatcher era, circa 1983. A hard-hitting, naturalistic "social drama” reminiscent of the work of Ken Loach and British “angry young man” films of the early 60s, it centers on a glum, alienated 12 year-old named Shaun (first-time film actor Thomas Turgoose, in an extraordinary performance). Shaun is a real handful to his loving but exasperated mother (Jo Hartley), a struggling working-class Falklands War widow. Happenstance leads Shaun into the midst of a skinhead gang, after the empathetic and good-natured gang leader (Joe Gilgun) takes him under his wing and offers him an unconditional entrée. The idyll is shattered when the gang’s original leader 'Combo' (Stephen Graham) is released from prison. His jailhouse conversion to racist National Front ideals splits the gang into two factions. Shaun decides to side with the thuggish and masterfully manipulative Combo, and it's a downhill slide from there. As a cautionary tale, it demonstrates how easily the neglected and disenfranchised can be recruited and indoctrinated into the politics of hate. As a history lesson, it’s a fascinating glimpse at a not-so-long ago era of complex politics and social upheaval in Great Britain. As a riveting drama, it features some very believable and astounding performances, particularly from the aforementioned young Turgoose and Graham, who positively owns the screen with his charismatic intensity. Not to be missed.