Pride Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.5

Pride Blu-ray Movie Review

Will fans be proud of this release?

Reviewed by Martin Liebman December 19, 2014

The last few years have seen a couple of time machine-style "equal rights" movies set in the not-too-distant past England: Made in Dagenham and Pride. While the former deals in gender equality, the latter, directed by Matthew Warchus and written by Stephen Beresford, tells the (mostly) true story of 1980s homosexual advocates finding common ground with striking UK miners. The film champions togetherness and equality under a common banner of humanity. It's very well made, carefully assembled to be at once deeply meaningful and lightly humorous. It features excellent lead performances and a wide swath of characters whose evolutions prove as predictable as the greater story they inhabit, but the film rises above type and the absence of mystery as a champion for its values in an easily accessible and fun little journey back several decades to a critical turning point in a divided nation's fight for unity.

We are L.G.S.M.

Young Joe Copper (George MacKay) finds himself inadvertently swept up in a gay pride march parading down the streets of London in 1984. The group's leader, Mark Ashton (Ben Schnetzer), begins an impromptu solicitation for donations meant to be given to the nation's striking miners, believing they share a common goal of solidarity, advocacy, and basic human rights in the midst of open repression. His idea slowly gains traction amongst his friends, including Joe, who must keep his affiliation with the group a secret from his parents. Calling itself "L.G.S.M." or "Lesbians and Gays Supporting the Miners," the group does all it can to drum up support from local strikers with no luck. They raise a few quid here and there but nothing that will make a difference, make a name for the group, or call serious attention to their plight and the miners' strike. They finally catch a break when a representative from a Welsh mining village, Dai Donovan (Paddy Considine), agrees to an alliance. L.G.S.M. travels to the town of Onllwyn where the members are met with both skepticism and outright rejection. They slowly gain the miners' trust, however, thanks to unwavering advocacy from a woman named Sian James (Jessica Gunning) and a few other unexpected new friends.

Pride isn't, broadly speaking, a "gay pride" movie but rather a movie that champions solidarity, togetherness, acceptance, and the power of activism. It strives to, and largely succeeds at, transcending the issue of sexuality and depicts the positive power of unified voices coming together for common causes, which are here freedom from repression and a battle for equality. The movie demonstrates that small, insignificant voices, together, can become agents of change. The story itself is rather predictable -- there's not much of a surprise where it's headed in a broad story arc sense -- but the film works best not by keeping the audience guessing but rather keeping itself both accessible and entertaining, building up its core purpose rather than focusing more on the minutia, the nuts-and-bolts behind the activism. The movie is largely cheery, a breezy, joyous experience that's unabashedly comfortable with what it is and what has to offer. It's very well put together, keeping the audience interested in the larger story context that's helped tremendously by a string of terrific performances all around.

Indeed, there's not a bad effort in the movie, but one area where Pride does suffer is in its gradual shift away from the broader story and into more intimate character portraits in the second half. The film features a large number of characters, some of whom the audience will remember more by face than name, and they're mostly one dimensional figures who only fill a role in advancing the story. Most have some individual arc, small though they may be, with some substantially more defined than others, but as the movie shifts more towards Joe and Mark and less from the "movement," the picture loses a bit of its cheery steam in favor of a heightened, more personal journey. Meanwhile in the second half, other characters are left to largely evolve in a broader context that asks the audience to, more or less, take their changes on faith and face value rather than in real, in-depth detail. That's not to say the second half is in any way poorly done. The character journeys are largely satisfying, but the movie slows down a bit and seems to have to grasp for that aforementioned breeziness and charm whereas in the first half it was more a constant element that helped push the whole story forward. In short, Pride works best when focused on the greater arc that is the collaboration between the gay activists and the striking miners rather than when it gets down into more nitty-gritty character matters.

Pride Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

More often than not, Pride looks terrific on Blu-ray. Problems are relatively few, but can be bothersome. The image can go a bit soft and brightness seems artificially increased. In other places, black levels waver between appearing lightly washed out and purple-tinted to somewhat heavy-handed and crushed. Noise, likewise, can infest some lower light interiors and darker backdrops. Otherwise, however, this is a terrific image. Detail is frequently impeccable. Faces and clothes, save for some softer medium-distance shots, are frequently revealing and complex. Building façades, worn paint on a van, and other little but critical elements are also very well defined. Colors, despite that push up towards a feeling of excess brightness, are vivid and cheery but also balanced and accurate down with the less-than-loud hues. Pride is often of reference quality, but a few shortcomings hold it back from perfection.

Pride Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Pride marches onto Blu-ray with a high end DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 losses soundtrack. Music is rich and robust, playing with wide spacing but even placement all around the stage. The track features plenty of aggressive ambience, particularly at marches where chants, whistles, footsteps, and other sonic odds and ends play in natural harmony. Dialogue can be a touch drowned out by the din in these scenes, but it's otherwise spot-on perfect in its center-focused delivery, with special note of a few moments of excellent natural reverberation when the scene demands it, such as when Dai addresses a gathering inside a club in chapter three. The low end is prominent when called upon, notably during a dance club scene and, later, at a reception featuring the miners and gay activists in chapter six. Specific sound effects play with excellent stage presence and accuracy; a ringing telephone heard for several moments and in an otherwise quiet, empty area is particularly wonderful. Overall, this is a fantastic listen and another excellent lossless audio presentation from Sony.

Pride Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Pride contains several deleted scenes and a featurette. A UV digital copy code is included in the Blu-ray case.

• Deleted & Extended Scenes (1080p): Jonathan's Goodbye (0:51), Discussion About AIDS (0:55), Farewell (2:01), I Did Speak Up (0:50), Mark and Joe Depart (3:18), and Don't You Dare Waste It (2:16).
• Pride A True Story (1080p, 16:03): Cast and crew and some of the real people involved in the true-life events discuss the plot, the real story behind the film and its historical importance, the real people who are depicted in the movie, societal evolution between then and now, cast performances, and more.
• Previews: Additional Sony titles.

Pride Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Pride is a rock-solid, well-made movie that's less about striking miners and gay pride activists and more about the power of solidarity, togetherness, and championing equality and acceptance. It's at its best when their alliance, and all of the both serious and humorous ramifications of it, are the subject. It slows down a bit in its more individual character-focused second half, but the film nevertheless remains a quality experience that yields wonderful production design and cast performances. Sony's Blu-ray release of Pride features splendid video and tip-top audio, but fans will rightly be disappointed with what is a rather scant collection of extras. Recommended.