Faith - Reviews






Faith - Faith - Home - Faith - Author - Faith - Director - Faith - Diary Cast - Faith - Cast - Michelle - Gary - Linda - Paul - Martin - Gordon - Charlie - Colin - Addy - Nico - Nigel - Doreen - Bev Extras - Faith - Extras - Misc & Trivia - Photographs Links - Links Reviews - Reviews		The BBC put their Faith in Stainforth Reviews ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Faith was shown on BBC1 28th February 9pm 2005 Stainforthonline Review of Faith David Douglass. NUM Branch Secretary Hatfield Main Review of Faith Review By Jodie Gray, member of the Jamie Draven Fan Site A large selection of reviews can be found on the BBC web site BBC - Viewers Reviews Other reviews may be found on this page at a later date. If you would like to write a review for this page, please send an email to Stainforthonline --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Faith review by Stainforthonline First of all I have to say that I enjoyed watching Faith immensely. There have been several attempts at dramatising the miners’ strike, but they have all managed to fall short of the truth. The truth, simply put, that Thatcher’s government had deliberately set out to destroy an entire industry and the people who worked within it. Faith redressed those previous wrongs with a fictional story set to a factual backdrop. “A gripping tale of love, deceit, betrayal and survival set against the back drop of the Miners’ Strike of 1984-85” was how the BBC Press Office described it, and true enough, there was more deceit and betrayal than you could shake a Met truncheon at. The story centred upon two sisters, Michelle (Christine Tremarco) and Linda (Maxine Peake). Michelle was married to Gary (Jamie Draven) and Linda was married to Paul (Adrian Bower). Gary was a miner at nearby Newby Colliery, while his lifelong pal Paul was a policeman with the local constabulary. Like many young couples caught up in the events of the strike, they found their previously happy and contented lives being disrupted and placed under considerable pressure as the dispute lengthened. While director David Thacker had tried to present William Ivory’s tale as a true account of how peoples’ lives were destroyed by Thatcher’s onslaught of the mining industry, one could not help but get the impression that here we had two stories that were only tenably related. The pressure of the strike was given as the reason behind the destruction of two marriages and four friendships. While such pressure was no doubt the catalyst for some break ups, the fact that people can’t keep their pants on when the opportunity arises must have more to do with the individuals concerned than with sociopolitical circumstances. While many mining families did indeed collapse under the pressure of living without money, it was usually money and personality problems that led to the break up the marriage, not farmyard sex. The Miners’ Strike played only a supporting role in Faith, and despite hours of recreated footage being shot especially for this drama, much of the chronology of the strike was portrayed using archive footage. The scenes of the miners on the picket lines and the brutish attitudes of the police were very true to life, though there were several flights of fancy that must have been added purely for artistic licence. For instance; when miners returned from picket line battles they usually went home, or to the doctors or the hospital if they were injured. The idea of blood soaked miners standing in a pub having a pint is not something I ever saw and I doubt very much that it occurred anywhere. The same goes for the occupying army of police. They simply wouldn’t have been seen socialising within the mining communities. The scene where miners were allowed onto a scab bus to talk a would-be scab out of crossing the picket line would never have happened. Those busses were heavily guarded and heavily armoured. You were more likely to be run over by a riot van long before getting anywhere near the bus, and they certainly wouldn’t have stopped and opened the doors for you. However, these scenes were included for the purpose of adding meat to the drama, and unless you knew better, you would find them quite credible. As a story, Faith was entertaining and I found myself believing in the characters. I was of course sympathetic towards their cause and I found Michelle’s speeches inspiring. Christine Tremarco is a wonderful actress and her portrayal of Michelle was absolutely excellent. Gary was a miserable bugger throughout the piece; whether this was because of his frustration at his lack of belief in the cause he was supposed to be fighting for, or his guilt at making wheelbarrows with his sister-in-law and his betrayal of his wife, I was never quite sure. In a tearful scene near the end he explained to Michelle how he didn’t share her faith in the strike, thus explaining the choice of title for the drama. It was Jamie Draven at his moody best. I actually felt a touch of sympathy for Paul, the cuckolded copper played by Adrian Bower, though his predicament was entirely of his own making. His reaction to his shameless wife, Linda, excellently played by “Shameless” Maxine Peake, after being humiliated in front of his new friends was very believable. The rest of the cast, some of whom played only very minor roles, were also very good. Gordon, (Clive Russell), was brilliant as the local union representative, and there must have many like myself who were actually there in 1984, who recognised the eternal cheeky chappy and happy go lucky character of Colin, played by Danny Cunningham. Neil Stuke, playing Nigel, the cocky cockney from the Met, managed to inspire serious feelings of loathing within me, with his cavalier and arrogant attitude towards the miners. If I had to make a sincere criticism of Faith, it would be at the editors’ choice of style. Each of the scenes in Faith were shot several times, using different methods. The first would be with the camera mounted on a sturdy tripod. The second could be with the camera mounted upon a dolly, or a buggy running along a set of tracks. Then each scene was shot with a handheld camera. It was this handheld style that the editors seemed to like most, but which I, and indeed many I have spoken to about Faith, found uncomfortable and even annoying. If they were attempting make a kind of “Blair Witch” feel to the film, then in my opinion they failed and managed to produce a “Blurred What?” feel instead. All in all, Faith was very good. The fact that it upset the Tories again, 20 years after the main event, made it even better. David Thacker has managed to turn William Ivory’s work into a testament to those whose lives were lost and damaged by the Thatcher regime. I’m sure that he and his team will always find a welcome here in the desecrated coal fields of South Yorkshire. Adge - www.stainforthonline.co.uk / www.minersadvice.co.uk Back Faith Review by Dave Douglass This month sees the 20th anniversary of the end of the great coal strike of 1984/85 . BBC’s production ‘Faith’ is a drama set against the backdrop of that strike and those tumultuous events. Its a fiction , insofar as the characters and their lives are fictions, but the events and the location and most of the supporting actors are all real, and actually were part of that defining year. With real miners and their wives as support actors, and with NUM officials picking up inaccuracies and inconsistencies in the film and story line as it went along, this film ought to be at least realistic and it is. Shot at Hatfield Colliery, where the head gear and pit stand frozen and intact, much as they did for the twelve months of the strike, the scenes are shot in the streets and communities based upon the fortunes of that mine, Stainforth, Dunscroft, Thorne and Moorends. Up to 240 of the local pit folk starred in the making of this film, and not simply as wannabies. They did it because they were concerned events, portraying their lives and real situations they participated in were not sold short. They will not be disappointed. The story itself is about loyalties, conflicts of loyalties, pressure upon loyalty , truth, fiction, manipulation, duplicity, and heroism, it covers the strike, the strike breakers, the police, local and imported, husbands and wives, lovers and cheats. The scenes are moving and for those who took part in those events some will be heartrending and provoke memories only just now either starting to fade or else taking on new found significance. 20 years down the line and the tremendous importance of that strike and everything that was fought for is perhaps clearer now than it was then, although now it is too late to do anything about it, and one is only left with the memory of where you were standing at that time. There are things wrong with the film in terms of accuracy of course, this is a drama we have to keep telling ourselves. Pickets did not come back from the picket line, with their heads split open and faces bloody and stand in the bar having a pint. We went home first and had a bath. Cops would not have been served in the local pubs during the occupation, they didnt get served in many paper shops or fruit stalls ner mind pubs. We were not on some out of control roller-coaster which we couldn't stop, this was our strike, our stand and by enlarge the ordinary miners and their communities kept it on the rails . The outcome was never a forgone conclusion, we never were on hiding to nowhere, truth is despite all the obstacles and overwhelming problems we came close on more than one occasion of actually winning the whole thing. That bigger picture is perhaps not even attempted here, and that's fair enough. Its a damn good drama as it stands in tight focus and one which will provoke much debate not simply among those who were there, but all those young people growing up in its shadow 20 years down the line who are left with the legacy of its defeat. David Douglass. NUM Branch Secretary Hatfield Main. www.minersadvice.co.uk Back FAITH REVIEW By Jodie Gray I have been a Jamie Draven fan since I saw him in Billy Elliot. I expected to be blown away by the talent of the young Jamie Bell but found myself drawn to the older brother, Tony Elliot. I thought he portrayed the character of a loving yet hard brother so well - even if his Geordie accent was a bit dodgy!!! Jamie Draven, as a newcomer to film, really shown through for me! Since then I made a point of watching everything that he starred in! From Messiah to Ultimate Force and everything in between, before and after has been brilliant! When it was announced that he was to star in a Drama about the miners strikes I was immediately drawn back to Billy Elliot and how he reacted when his Dad crossed the picket line. His ability to create raw emotion and disillusionment really shown through in those scenes so I knew he would be perfect for the role of Gary Andrews! In the opening scenes of Faith we see a happy go lucky Gary dancing and singing in his local pub, enjoying life with his wife and looking forward to there future together. The changes in this character from this point to the end are amazing and Jamie's talent as a dramatic actor were really tested but of course he was more than able to rise to that challenge. As the strikes continue Gary becomes more and more confused and angry because he just doesn't feel like everyone else - this really escalates when his wife Michelle becomes more active in the strikes. He seeks comfort in Michelle's sister Linda and they begin a brief but explosive affair! In previous projects if Jamie had a sex scene he has been reserved, but in these scenes he seemed to really let go creating some raw, emotional and real moments between the two. In the sex scenes Jamie managed to get across Gary's loneliness, despair and total bewilderment in how his life was turning out. When Linda tries to end the affair, you see Gary plead for her to reconsider - he delivered such a lovely speech that it really captures the essence of there relationship - they were only alive with each other. In the desperate times they were living that meant everything to them both. In all the productions I have seen with Jamie, I think this is the first time he has ever been so emotionally involved in a relationship with a gritty character like Gary Andrews! In Watermelon he played James Wearing who fell in love, had his heart broken then went to great extremes to find his true love again. It was a different part for Jamie, not serious or gritty but light hearted and romantic. Although he played the part with romance and humour, it didn't project the same raw emotion that he portrayed as Gary Andrews in Faith. When the relationship between Gary and Linda is exposed is really when he came into his own. When Gary breaks down in the kitchen, finally telling Michelle how he really feels about the strike and what it has done to them; it is the most moving scene of the whole film! I would imagine that it is hard to turn your emotions off and on like that but Jamie always seems to manage it so effortlessly! Michelle then realises just what her husband has been going through whilst she has been so consumed with protests and meetings that she too breaks down. I cried at this scene and that was solely due to the great acting by both Jamie and Christine Tremarco. Never before have I seen Jamie this emotionally drained in anything he has done and it was amazing to watch him stretch his talent! The sad conclusion to Faith was both shocking and poignant. Gary and Michelle went to the picket line together to stand firm as a family. When the real hustle starts Gary is frantically looking for Michelle trying to protect her when in fact it his Gary himself that comes to a tragic end. As a Jamie Draven fan I am used to his characters dying - but when Gary went under that bus I was distraught! I wanted the character to live, to get his life and marriage back on track! I didn't want him to die!! But after watching Faith again I realised that Gary Andrews death was an important part of the production - it made the severity of the situation so much more believable! I really felt a sense of awe that anyone survived the strikes at all - they took their toll on every single person involved, whether it was the men themselves or their families. I think that Jamie Draven should be proud if himself for the part he played in bringing this tragic and important story to our screens! Everything he works on turns out to be better than the last and he just keeps growing as an actor. I think he was perfect for the role as Gary Mark Andrews and the success of the drama just proves that! (Many thanks to Jodie for sending us this excellent review! Jodie is a member of the Jamie Draven Fan Site http://www.jamiedravensite.com, which has the most comprehensive information about Jamie to be found anywhere on the net. They also have a wonderful Forum, where you can find news about Jamie Draven's latest projects) Back STAINFORTHONLINE © 2004 ~ www.stainforthonline.co.uk