Bread & Roses

Pride is a sumptuous and joyous film of the very highest order. It tells the true story of how a group of gay men and lesbians decided to raise money in support of striking miners in 1984 & 1985. The narrative tension pivots on the culture clash between the cosmopolitan bohemian London activists on the one hand and that of miners & their families from a traditional and small Welsh town on the other. The fusion will warm you, inspire you and delight you.

The acting, costumes and sets are top notch: evoking an authentic reminiscence of that time in British history. Bill Nighy is wonderfully understated while Dominic West quite the opposite. Meanwhile Imelda Staunton & Jessica Gunning are as solid as tweed and tins of baked beans. And the lead actor, Ben Schnetzer, is luminous. This is a must see film!

This film is peppered with profound & diverse leadership in so many places, it is difficult to know which theme to choose to highlight. Huge dollops of tenacity, humility, determination to succeed, courage, curiosity, honesty and of course pride & confidence are all on display. Another huge theme, if not the whole plot, is about finessing adversity.

This is epitomised in one part of the story where the activists are referred to as 'perverts'. They decide to own the word, turn it around and use it ironically to build their campaign. How many leaders are able to take an insult and bat it back like a cricket ball? Good leaders are not just robust, they are robustly ironic too.

Does your leadership cricket bat need any linseed oil?


And I must offer a special plug for a song which features in the film: Bread & Roses. It is sung beautifully by Bronwen Lewis. Click here to be enchanted.

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This is the fifty fourth of my 2014 series of blogs about leadership ideas to be found in the movies of our time. You can read here as why I am doing this. Please subscribe to this blog if you want to read more. Thanks. Click the label 'film' to see all the others.