- TV
Documentary attacking Margaret Thatcher's dismantling of the National Union of Miners and the larger trade union movement in mid-80s UK.
"By...
Documentary attacking Margaret Thatcher's dismantling of the National Union of Miners and the larger trade union movement in mid-80s UK.
"By the time that Margaret Thatcher came to power in 1979, the Tories had been planning for years how to crush the trade unions. This archive-rich film takes us back to the frontline of that battleground: the 1984 miners strike. Lasting a year, it brought tens of thousands of miners to the picket lines, in protest at the shutting of collieries, and loss of jobs. Told primarily from the retrospective of the mining communities themselves, we hear how the initial euphoria and solidarity evolved into desperation, starvation and bitter division... The government's ultimate triumph smoothed the way for a country still determined to sell off its public assets in the pursuit of free enterprise." (Sheffield Doc/Fest)
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100 %14 reviewsRotten Tomatoes® rating
90 %67 reviewsAudience score rating
"The depth of focus and feeling in the miners' testimonials conveys a vivid picture of living through the strike, with Gower finding enough facets to sustain a stirring tribute to solidarity and a vital oral history of social protest."
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Total Film
Total Film"This is timely, important and truthful cinema, at once bitter, nostalgic and unexpectedly uplifting."
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Time Out
Time Out"Director Owen Gower mixes plentiful archive footage with contemporary interviews to cut through the media rhetoric about rioting pickets and paint an altogether more alarming portrait of a carefully orchestrated state crackdown."
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The Guardian
The Guardian"Gower's film is a heartfelt tribute to the communities who were hammered by political, not economic, forces. They look bloodied, but unbowed."
—The Guardian
The Guardian"A tough, hard-hitting and honest telling by the people involved."
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Empire Magazine
Empire MagazineStill The Enemy Within | Details
- Runtime
- 116
- Genre
- Documentary
- Country of origin
- UK
