Brassed Off

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Poe R Aug 15, 2018 Coal may be dead, but music never ever dies. One of the most beautiful movie I've ever seen. All Music players should watch this beauty See more

Albus S Dec 22, 2017 Not a lot to blow ones trumpet about here. The acting is very good but it's a depressing film set in depressing times when morals got very confused. Still it does have a happy ending. See more

Draco W May 6, 2017 Gloria Mullins (Tara Fitzgerald) has been sent to her home town of Grimley to determine the profitability of the pit for the management of British Coal. She also plays the flugelhorn, and is allowed to play with the local brass band after playing Concierto de Aranjuez with them. The band is made up of miners from whom she must conceal her purpose. She renews a childhood romance with Andy Barrow (Ewan McGregor), which soon leads to complications. Andy is bitter about the programme of pit closures and determined to fight on, but he is also realistic about the circumstances and predicts a 4-to-1 majority for closure and redundancy. When Andy realises that Gloria is working for management, he accuses her of naïvety for thinking that the Coal Board is considering whether the pit has any viable future and argues that the decision to close Grimley would have been taken years ago. The passionate band conductor, Danny Ormondroyd (Pete Postlethwaite), finds he is fighting a losing battle to keep the rest of the band members committed. His son Phil (Stephen Tompkinson) is badly in debt and becomes a clown for children's parties, but fails to prevent his wife and children walking out on him. Danny suddenly collapses in the street and is hospitalised, but continues to exhort the band to continue in the national competition, but friction and pressure are all too evident within the band. Phil then reveals to Danny that in light of the colliery's closure, the band has decided not to continue playing... "Brassed Off" carriers a serious tone within the dark comedy structure of the film. The threat of closure of an industry (in this case coal mines) and the loss of hundreds of jobs and a full demoralisation of a whole town and the consequences of that is of course a social political problem that can happen anywhere and as a comment is important to communciate. Parts of the film make references to the huge increase in suicides that resulted from the end of the coal industry in Britain, and the struggle to retain hope in the circumstances. The film is set during a period in the early 1990s when the miners put up very little resistance to a wave off pit closures, in contrast to the year-long strike undertaken in 1984-85. This demoralization of the militant miners was the basis behind the idea of being "brassed off"."Brassed Off" has humour (with a bit of darkness to it), a message, believeable characters and human warmth. The cast is great with Pete Postlethwaite, Tara Fitzgerald and Ewan McGregor on top. Yes, the film is a bit flawed in the editing of the storyline in my opinion, but it´s not really disturbing the film in any way. It was nice to re-see the oh so lovely Tara Fitzgerald yet again as I haven´t seen her on the screen for quite some time. "Brassed Off" is well worth a watch for the compelling story, the great acting and the lovely music from the Grimley Colliery Brass band. Trivia: Pete Postlethwaite's final speech was not rehearsed in front of the rest of the cast. This was because the director wanted genuine reactions from everyone on hearing it. See more

Draco P May 20, 2014 although the plot is familiar, excution is great and full of charm. Genuine.

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Brassed Off

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