Writer: James Nicholas Green
Director: James Nicholas Green
Starring: Steve Furst, Toto Bruin and Lee Ingleby,
Victory to the Mimers is a brilliant satire about power, protest and art.
The story of Margaret Thatcher’s destruction of the mining industry and disdain for miners and their communities is well known. The tragedy, struggle and ultimate dignity of those communities an inspired basis for satirising the current state of society and power structures. Victory to Mimers showcases this in full glory.
Our main character, Ern, is the leader of the Mimers, who organises to lead them in a protest in London. He is estranged from his brother, Uncle Al, who causes family division- a mirror situation of the division between striking and non-striking miners, which cut across families. He warns Ern that ‘London is prepared for these protests’, with riot gear and all. The government has made it illegal to protest loudly, so who better to protest than Mimers, says Ern. From this premise, we see a story of protest, identity, and struggle to defend art and expression for its own sake- with Ern arguing at one point that if Mimers don’t protest, ‘it will be the nail in the coffin for Arts funding’.
Victory to the Mimers is a piece of narrative excellence, and it is also great technically. The cinematography, locations and set design are softly reminiscent of the 1980s, while the well written dialogue, arguments and language are strongly of today. The story in this film is inter-generational, and as such contains brilliant performances from a multi-generational cast. There is a particularly incisive scene where the 30 something audition judges understand nothing of miming that Ern and Uncle Al are performing and conclude that ‘this is what you get for levelling up’. The judges are southerners watching Mimers born and bred in the North.
This clever, deeply artistic and strongly political short is nothing short of excellent.