Still The Enemy Within

Thirty years on, the 1984 miners’ strike remains a watershed in modern British history. Owen Gower’s impassioned doc revisits it via the men on the picket line, plus the women, students and gay activists (neatly intersecting with recent Brit-com Pride) who supported them. With the regime confined to archive footage, this is unashamedly partisan, yet the film’s strength lies in giving voice to the conflict’s ‘losers.’

The depth of focus and feeling in the miners’ testimonials conveys a vivid picture of living through the strike, with Gower finding enough facets to sustain a stirring tribute to solidarity and a essential oral history of social protest.