Intelligent adaptation of the wharfie dispute isn't particularly well directed (it feels as though it needs more music in the background or something) but is engrossing, once you get used to the actors, who at first seem to be a little bit "I'm an actor and I'm playing a wharfie"but then after a while are fine. The least actory is the guy who plays Greg Combes, though Jack Thompson was born to play a wharfie. The script could have done with a little more context of the history of the WWF and exactly why they were so despised by the conservatives and farmers - an opening epilogue touching on the Pig Iron dispute, all the strikes in the 70s, etc. The talking heads are a mistake - they never add anything to the drama you don't get from the action, and in some cases they distract from it eg when talking about big confrontation where violence was averted when another union showe up - why cut away to these talking heads? Why not show it? Also I think punches are pulled at the end when the union really sold its members short.
The mini series id quite fair to Chris Corrigan - but of course he whined about it. We all like to think we're the hero of our own drama.
No comments:
Post a Comment