Based on the true story of a worker's strike of the all-female sewing division of the Ford plant in Dagenham, England, which led to (more) equitable pay for female workers in the UK and US, Made in Dagenham does have its share of stirring moments, and an appealing cast.
What it lacks, however, is any sense of context, or sense of place. Dagenham, in this film, is a sanitized, cheery, world where a few villains are dispatched quickly by a well-made speech and about 45-minutes-worth of plucky determination, and the working class is uniformly noble.
Because of this, the stakes involved in the strike don't seem particularly high, the transformation of the workers from housewives to firebrands comes off as forced, and the inevitable victory doesn't really register as significant.
The closing credits, featuring brief interviews with some of the women involved in the strike, really underscored my biggest problem with the film. This is not ancient history, and an excellent documentary could (and should) be made about this remarkable group of women, and their unlikely success.
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