justincward Pete Postlethwaite steals the show from the off as a dedicated band conductor, such as the show is, in the story of how Grimley Colliery brass band wins the national championships with the 'Lone Ranger Theme', as it's known to the working class. Of course, there are many bumps in the road, but Ewan MacGregor and Tara Fitzgerald's romance comes good in the end.Sentimental, earnest, Brassed Off just about manages not to be condescending to the mining communities, and puts in a few deep digs against the Tory party. As a story, it holds together over the length of the movie, but as a depiction of people with no money and no hope, it's melodramatic. The characters are very simply drawn. Perhaps if it showed genuine desperation it would be too depressing; it's a feelgood story after all, and a difficult situation to draw a positive from.So you get the triumph of people dedicated (that word again) to music, but you never get the feeling that the band means anything to them beyond being a drain on their finances. They don't practise at home, their music brings them no joy, all they seem to be doing is keeping up appearances for the sake of it and because it's a colliery tradition. Pete Postlethwaite is the only character that expresses genuine passion for what he does, and the rest of them diss him for it.Brass band performances of popular classics, however immaculate, are rarely deeply moving. The best you can do is admire the skill of a large group of amateur musicians, so the music is unlikely to give you goosebumps.Then you get people having the bailiffs remove their house contents, and 1000 job losses, and wives and kids moving out, but you don't really sympathise because it's actually only about the brass band - and at least his phone's still connected.Whatever is important to the characters, Brassed Off assumes with no establishing scenes that you are on board from the start, in the same way it assumes you are on board with the anti-Tory sentiments it embraces. In other words, your sympathy for the characters is taken for granted but never really established by them doing anything beyond playing brass instruments expertly. Perhaps the script is not sentimental enough. It's certainly not sophisticated.Jim Carter puts in a good turn as a curmudgeonly euphonium (NOT trumpet) player - all the band are, in fact everybody is, curmudgeonly - and Tara Fitzgerald is as convincing (though unbelievable) as the limited script allows her to be. Ewan MacGregor has a very cute face, but on this showing he's a shallow, two-dimensional actor.All in all, Brassed off is a pretty well-rendered, sentimental story about people in recent history who shared an enthusiasm for something completely outdated; it never gets traction on a genuine, touching, authentic human level, in spite of its right-on sentiments.Worth watching to be able to say, "Pete Postlethwaite was bloody good, wasn't he?". And maybe, "That Thatcher, what a devil incarnate".

Ben Larson I have been watching Waking the Dead, and thought I would explore other works done by it's stars. I'm starting with Eve (Tara Fitzgerald).The star of this film is not Fitzgerald, but Pete Postlethwaite, who was nominated for an Oscar for In the Name of the Father, and also starred in Inception and The Lost World: Jurassic Park, among others.Postlethwaite is trying to keep a brass band together in the face of coal mines being shut down, which will result in the eventual demise of his town. It is a lighthearted, sometimes depressing film which features a love story between young people (Fitzgerald and Ewan McGregor), a crisis involving a married couple (Stephen Tompkinson and Melanie Hill), and a health crisis involving Danny (Postlethwaite). Of course, there is also a national band contest at the Royal Albert Hall.There is also a bit of politics in the film with a couple of rants against Maggie Thatcher. They even managed to work Danny Boy in the film. Great!I am glad that Fitzgerald brought me here, as it was an enjoyable experience.

oscar-35 *Spoiler/plot- Brassed Off, 1996. A 100 years old coal miners brass band members hit economic and social troubles when their coal mine's labor problems threaten to shut the mine down along with the band organization.*Special Stars- Pete Postlewaite, Ewan McGregor, Jim Carter.*Theme- Taking a social stand and speaking out is as important as making band music.*Trivia/location/goofs- UK, Yorshire. This film's band music caused a resurgence of interest in band music. Wtach this film for first-time on camera performances for many British and Scotish leading character actors.*Emotion- A thoroughly enjoyable character driven film plot about regular people's struggles with work, family and goals. It's a memorable film for it's themes, good casting, writing, and production.

raebari Having rented a piece of c--p titled "Little Miss Sunshine" last week,I have given up on paying for what Hollywood deems quality filming. So I was surfing the movie channels, came across "Brassed Off," and what hooked this former USA marching band member was the gloriously rich music that accompanied the film's action. Everything politically important has been said on the previous 12 pages of this IMDb commentary, particularly about Thatcher, Reagan (and now Bush) and that ilk, who put profit above all and people last. This film, yes, does belong in the "full monty" category, but even more, it falls into the "Drum Line" category as well--the power that music has to lift people above their ordinary lives and to help them realize the depth of their humanity. This film, like "Drum Line," is an education in itself about musical traditions that millions are ignorant of. I was stunned at the richness of sound produced by a colliery band--no woodwinds to thin out the total effect.The film also has echoes of "How Green Was My Valley," a film made in the 40's and set in Welsh coal-mining country, where male choral groups meet weekly and also compete in an annual national contest.In addition, as an American tourist in Yorkshire, I loved the literary aspect of that area--Bronte country, if you will--being an English teacher, but this film was a cold slap in the face concerning the reality of the fate of men and women upon whose backs and blood the nation was enriched, and who are discarded, like rusty tools, when "conservative" economics trumpet the importance of "investors" over the fate of the workers in the industry. Yes, as one commentator pointed out, coal has no future in the 21st century, but short-sightedness and greed have ignored the need for other energy solutions that could have saved those Yorkshire communities and families, and which just might make the planet inhabitable for our grandchildren--if we don't continue to be stupid.