Yep, this is one of my favourite films.

Unfortunately it's been a few years since I saw the film so I don't remember anything like that.
The story of the release of the film in the U.S. on DVD is a little weird, too, though. The DVD back cover didn't mention that the activists supporting the miners were gay and erased a banner with that referred to it from the photo of the marching scene.

Last edited by Yitzock (October 27, 2017 2:12 pm)

I'm afraid it's wishful thinking!

I remember two rather desperate kisses (a drunk maybe straight woman kisses a lesbian, and a gay man on his "farewell party tour" kisses his gay friend), Gethin curling up with Jonathan in Bed groaning "don't these women ever sleep" (while the miners' wives are giggling and shrieking over a dildo and some naked men in porn magazines (which are not shown all that much)) and Joe and Steph (i. e. a homosexual man and woman) lying in bed together, holding hands (after Steph said something like "if we were normal, we'd be kissing now").

That the U.S. distributors felt the need to change the DVD cover shows that there's something seriously wrong with the country - the French version (which seems to be very similar to the British one) is very discreet and just provides necessary information (for once it's even a correct representation of the contents) - I mean, if you are homophobic enough to be put off by the cover, you'd want to know what the film is about before buying it, wouldn't you? In France the film is "tous publics", by the way, i. e. no age restrictions whatsoever.

Yitzok, if you've seen the movie only in the cinema, I'd recommend you get the DVD so you can see the extras as well - I was happy to see the real Jonathan alive and well in 2014

Something I have always wondered about (since watching Brassed Off), and maybe somebody here can help me understand: There's this wonderfully moving scene of Bill Nighy's "geology lesson" where he talks about the dark artery of coal running from Spain through Wales to Pennsylvania which shows a deep love of the subject and attachment to the work "the pits and the people are one and the same" (Andrew Scott's reaction, too) - I'm assuming that's reflecting something of the real people's attitudes towards the mines. Also because it ties in what I heard when visiting a slate mine (yes, an underground mine, not an open-air quarry).

So, the thing I find hard to understand: Why are people so attached to work under horrible conditions, with pay that's not particularly good, and that has a high likelyhood of ending up  killing them? Even the Bremen town musicians knew "You can always find something better than death"...
 

Last edited by Kittyhawk (November 5, 2017 12:41 pm)

Yes, I think it's partly that and also just in general the fact that such a job allows them to be able to put food on the table for their families. I remember once on a TV a man singing a song he wrote about how his job mining coal kept the lights on.
Sometimes I find it difficult to understand myself, since I dislike the fact that coal and oil create pollution that destroys the earth, even if I also understand that people need jobs to survive.

And a deliberate political action to smash the unions...oh sorry, did I say that out loud?!