Brassed Off  

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Brassed Off is a 1996 British film written and directed by Mark Herman. The film, a British-American co-production made between Channel Four Films, Miramax Films and Prominent Films, is about the troubles faced by a colliery brass band, following the closure of their pit. The soundtrack for the film was provided by the Grimethorpe Colliery Band, and the plot is based on Grimethorpe's own struggles against pit closures. It is generally very positively received for its role in promoting brass bands and their music. Parts of the film make <refreference to the huge increase in suicides that resulted from the end of the coal industry and the struggle to retain hope in the circumstances.

Channel 4 and The Guardian both sponsored what was expected to be a low-profile film; it was not expected to gain the wide audience that it has. Having expected viewers to be mostly those with past links to coal mining, the film does not make explicit the political background to the plot. The American marketing for the film (and later VHS and DVD releases) portrays the film as a cheerful romantic comedy with nearly no mention at all about the musical or political elements.

The film stars Pete Postlethwaite, Tara FitzGerald and Ewan McGregor. The film was well received as a comedy, and by some as a political statement about the state of traditional coal mining communities in Britain.

The film was particularly well received in former mining communities, who felt it accurately reflected the suffering they faced because of the decline of their industry during the years of the Thatcher and Major Conservative governments. It is set during the latter period, when Michael Heseltine presided over a huge programme of pit closures, as President of the Board of Trade.

In popular culture, a clip from the movie was used in Chumbawumba's Tubthumping song.

Background

The film is set in "Grimley" in the mid-1990s — a thinly disguised version of the real South Yorkshire village of Grimethorpe, which had been named as the poorest village in Britain two years earlier by the European Union. The nearby areas of the Dearne Valley and the Hemsworth area were also identified as in need of serious aid. Indeed, the soundtrack for the film was recorded by the Grimethorpe Colliery Band, the story roughly reflects Grimethorpe Colliery Band's history, and the film was largely shot in Grimethorpe.

The miners in the film put up little resistance to the coal board's harsh redundancy policy. This can be understood in the context of the 1984-85 British miners' strike, which effectively destroyed trade union power in British coal mining industry. The film depicts the spirit of hopelessness 10 years after the strike, and the miners' attempts to find redemption. An ongoing piece of symbolism in the first half of the film is the lack of conversation between one miner and his wife, until she finally criticises him harshly for not making a show of resistance against the closure, when he had been so full of fight in 1984.

Plot

Gloria (Tara FitzGerald) has been sent to her old hometown of Grimley to determine the profitability of the pit for the management of British Coal. She also plays the flugelhorn brilliantly, and is allowed to play with the local brass band, made up of miners from whom she must conceal her purpose. She renews a childhood romance with Andy (Ewan McGregor), which soon leads to complications.

The passionate band conductor, Danny (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. As his father Danny is hospitalised from pneumoconiosis or a similar disease, Phil has a breakdown while entertaining a group of children in a church (one of the darkest scenes of the film), and later attempts suicide by trying to hang himself on top of a very high up machine (one of the most disturbing scenes in the film). He is spotted by two men who, it is assumed, saved him.

As the colliery itself is finally closed, the band finds success in the national brass band competition. Despite several setbacks, the band eventually reaches the final at the Royal Albert Hall in London (Birmingham Town Hall was used to film these scenes). After winning the competition with a stirring rendition of "The William Tell Overture", Danny refuses to accept the trophy stating that it's only human beings that matter and not music or the trophy but the "government has systematically destroyed an entire industry. OUR industry. And not just our industry—our communities, our homes, our lives. All in the name of 'progress'. And for a few lousy bob". However, despite this moving gesture, another band member takes away the giant cup with a typical Yorkshire "Don't be bloody soft". The film ends with Andy and Gloria kissing passionately on the double decker bus home while the rest of the band play Land of Hope and Glory under Danny's conduction.

Cast

Soundtrack

The soundtrack for Brassed Off is officially composed by Trevor Jones although some titles existed before Jones' commission as original compositions for brass band or arrangements for example Death or Glory and Floral Dance respectively.

Track listing

1. Death or Glory - Robert Browne Hall
2. A Sad Old Day
3. Floral Dance - Katie Moss<ref name=amazon/><ref name=imdb/>
4. Aforementioned Essential Items<ref name=amazon/>
5. En Aranjuez Con Tu Amor - Joaquín Rodrigo<ref name=amazon/><ref name=imdb/>
6. Years of Coal<ref name=amazon/>
7. March of the Cobblers - Bob Barrett & Edrich Siebert<ref name=amazon/><ref name=imdb/>
8. There's More Important Things in Life<ref name=amazon/>
9. Cross of Honour - William Rimmer<ref name=amazon/><ref name=imdb/>
10. Jerusalem - Hubert Parry<ref name=amazon/><ref name=imdb/>
11. Florentiner March - Julius Fučík<ref name=amazon/><ref name=imdb/>
12. Danny Boy - Percy Grainger<ref name=amazon/><ref name=imdb/>
13. We'll Find a Way<ref name=amazon/>
14. Clog Dance - John Marcangelo<ref name=amazon/><ref name=imdb/>
15. Colonel Bogey - Kenneth Alford<ref name=amazon/><ref name=imdb/>
16. All Things Bright and Beautiful - William Henry Monk arranged D.Rimmer<ref name=amazon/>
17. William Tell Overture - Gioachino Rossini arranged G.J. Grant<ref name=amazon/><ref name=imdb/>
18. Honest Decent Human Beings<ref name=amazon/>
19. Pomp and Circumstance - Edward Elgar arranged Ord Hume<ref name=amazon/><ref name=imdb/>

See also

• Grimethorpe
• Grimethorpe Colliery Band
• Concierto de Aranjuez