Brassed Off

A community in crisis always makes a good film and that is exactly the route that explored by Mark Herman in his film set in the English town of Grimley.

This small British town has long been full of coal miners and the Grimley Colliery band takes pride of place. The film is set around Danny who is a retired miner in poor health and directs the band and with a national championship coming up Danny wishes to make sure that the Grimley Colliery band wins the trophy.

The added twist is the fact that rumours are spreading suggesting that the mine could very well be shutting down. To make things even worse the city is already suffering an economic downturn.

Danny’s response is to allow Gloria to join the band in order to try and ensure that the trophy is there, especially considering that she is a great flunglehorn player. However, this does not help the future of the city for she is working for the government and is seeing whether or not it is actually feasible to close down the beloved mine.