Bit cliched, but well worth watching

Rating: 9/10 (12 November 2000)

Other writers have noted that this film again visits the miners under pressure due to closing of coal mines -- settings used by Brassed Off and Full Monty, both films I enjoyed. The union strike in this film is more background than in those films.
BTW: I don't see the setting as a problem. The mine closings, redundencies and subsequent homelessness produced a lot of turmoil in the British working class. It's hardly surprising that films critizing the Thatcher government are more common after her party is out of power since much of the financing for films seems to come from the government. I think there are still a few more films that could explore what happened to working people during this period.
The film also reminded me of October Sky, where a young man's desire to excell in his field runs afoul of his father's expectation that he follow after him. The acting/dancing and photography/direction were excellent. This film is a tearjerker, but I didn't feel manipulated.
I highly recommend this film -- although I wish they hadn't used such an unnecessary and negative stereotype in the final "years later" sequence.