Les Virtuoses

I just want to correct a couple of things that the previous reviewer makes about the film.

Firstly, from a musical point of view, Gloria does not enter the Grimley bandroom with an obligato cornet, it's a flugelhorn.

The fact that a woman has entered the band room is important. For a long time, the brass band was the domain of men. Women weren't allowed to play in the bands and indeed, this is still the case today in two of the biggest names in the banding world.

Underpinning all this is the fact that the film is (at least) semi-biographical. The events unfolding in the film mirror in no small way the same events which befell the Grimethorpe pit in 1992, and impacted on the world-famous Grimethorpe Colliery band. Thatcher's Britain did result in the pit closing down, and threatened the band's future. The band did take the stage at the National Final, and so the reason that the band don't turn professional is because there is no room in the banding movement for a professional band.

For a point of information, there are 4 basses in a Brass Band, 2 Eb and 2 Bb (not 2 or 3). Oh yes, and bandsmen most certainly do carry there instruments through the street without a case, especially bass players.

On a slightly different point, Phil does not have a gambling habit. He is still paying off the loan that he took out in 1982 to cover the loss of earnings because "suspended I were. 18 b****** months it took that lot to sort it out. 18 b***** months on strike pay. That's how big a f***** deal it is mate."

The Colliery Brass Band has survived two world wars, depressions and is still playing. However the threaten closure of the pit itself puts the band under threat – although many of the band fear the wider implications. Danny Ormondroyd remains focused on his music despite sickness and his son's spiral of debt. While a relationship between of the band turns sour when she is found to be working with the pit's management. The band's music becomes an allegory for the plight of the workers.

Released a year before The Full Monty made working class British comedy a Hollywood hit, this has a lot more realism and a lot more heart. The story deals mainly with the plight of the miners – betrayed and deserted by the Tory Government – and the bands corresponding struggle to survive and overcome. The metaphors are good but not heavy – basically the story can work if you don't see the parallels. The story works best due to the level of emotion the story carries. This has a lot of heart and builds to a wonderful standoff that brings a message without being preachy.

The cast are excellent. Postlethwaite is top class as Danny and delivers a metaphor for the dying mine itself – not interesting in politics, just trying to keep producing the ethics he always has but all the time knowing his time is coming. Equally as good is Tompkinson – a complex role, full of emotion and he deasl very, very well with it – to me his was the performance of the film. Fitzgerald is a little weak but a pre-Jedi McGregor is solid in support. The rest of the band is fleshed out by solid UK faces and do well.

Overall this is a great little film. It deals with heavy politics but mixes human drama effortlessly. It delivers message without preaching or shouting and it is driven by a fantastic cast.

A superb film. A film which did not seek to glamourise the effect of long term unemployment and the break up of communities. And a film which WAS based very closely on a true story. The band members you see actually playing the music? That's the Grimethorpe Colliery Band, winners of the national Battle of the Bands competition in the year that the colliery closed down. And they did turn professional too!

Films like Brassed Off, which seek to present a view of a sensitive issue, are often derided for not offering a solution which can be written on the back of a cereal box. Personally, I take that as a recommendation!

The point of the film is this: put people in situations that most of us will happily never face, and they react in extreme fashions. There was little or no 'political' argument, other than the fact that the Conservative Government of the time did destroy an entire industry. That same government them spent millions of pounds a year buying coal from Europe and South America. Angry? I would be.

I saw characters portrayed in their entirety, which meant 'scabs' and 'sellouts' rubbed shoulders with the committed and poor. I saw unflattering portraits of basically decent people, prepared to risk friendships and relationships to keep alive an industry which was killing them but without which they could not live. It was a desperate time, and the fact that families have been split since the 1984 strike shows just how deep feelings can run on this issue.

And I saw no skipping over the holes in the logic either. No mention of the 4-1 vote in favour of closing the mine? Half of the chuffing film was about that! What about the fate of Gloria's report? What about Phil, a striker from 1984, voting for closure? Did no-one notice that he was one of the major characters?

I do think that there were some problems with the structure of the film (although it was dramatically more satisfying than the Full Monty). Gloria was unconvincing; the wives were underused, and the speech at the end, yes, I found it embarrassing too!

But please, before you attack the veracity of such a rounded and honest film as Brassed Off, take the time and trouble to watch it properly first!

"Brassed Off" is a surprisingly tough anti-Thatcher flick, and I did have some problem with the thick accents now and again.

While I could have done with a bit more romance, there was an excellent story line of working class difficulties to attend to that is similar to downsizing heartbreak here.

Pete Postlethwaite as the band leader/black lunged ex-coal miner was terrific, but so was Stephen Tomlinson as a guy with just everything against him under so many pressures.

Yeah it's a heartwarming story of trying to keep dignity vs. Big Business, it's not a fantasy but upliftingly realistic.

Ewan MacGregor took what could have just been the male ingénue role and was quite intense with it.

Amazingly - there's no child abuse in it, what a relief these days. Everyone here really loves their kids, their jobs, their community, their colliery band. It's just the Tories (and management) they hate.

I just hate to think how hopeless things are for them after the movie ends.

(originally written 6/14/1997)

I have seen Brassed Off many times, I do in fact own it, and every time I watch it it never fails to move me. There are certain moments that stick out to me as either breath taking or harrowing.

1) That famous 'Concierto d'Aranguez' scene. The first time I saw this scene it took my breath away, literally. When used well music can move you in a way words can't. The juxtaposing of this piece of music against the union's meeting is one of them. I haven't been this moved by a piece of music with actions since then apart from the Roxan sequence in Moulin Rouge.

2) The scene where Phil loses it when playing Mr Chuckles I actually can't sit through. I have to fast forward because the emotion the Stephen Tompkinson manages to portray is so strong it's painful to watch.

Through all of this though I think my favorite scene, the aforementioned 1) excluded, is when they compete in all 14 tournaments and get completely rat arsed. The sight of these brilliant musicians trying to continue playing when they can't see straight, stop laughing, or keep their instruments in one piece is one of the most honest, amusing and humble moments in a film in recent years. there is no flashy camera work, no deeper meaning, just something that says exactly who these people are. Ordinary human beings, not super-heros, and just trying to live life whilst having fun in difficult circumstances. And you really can't play wind instruments drunk, I've tried.

The film is not perfect. It is a bit preachy, especially the end. And McGregor's accent, although he plays the part beautifully, does slip at time, especially in his longer speeches. But the humanity of the film and it's charm out way all of it's faults.