INFORMATION
The
story takes place in Sheffield, an industrial town in central England,
in the early 1980s. As in many towns in Britain at that time, the town
has far fewer jobs available in heavy industry then it did in the past.
Factories making steel used to employ the men of the town. Now the
factories employ fewer men and many men stay at home. There is work for
the women in the new companies which have started up, but less work for
the men. The story opens with Gaz and Dave, two friends, stealing a piece of iron – a girder – from their old factory. Gaz thinks they can sell it for a few pounds. His son, Nathan, is there too. He wishes his dad would take him to a football match like other dads. The idea of selling the iron ends in disaster like most of Gaz’s money-making ideas. Nathan is the reason that Gaz needs money. Gaz is separated from Nathan’s mother, Mandy. He is supposed to pay Mandy some money every month to help buy clothes and food for Nathan. But without a job, he can’t pay. And now the courts have told him that if he does not pay ... he cannot see Nathan.
The American male strippers, the Chippendales, come to town. When Gaz discovers how much the women in the audience have paid to see the show, an idea begins to form in his mind. Over the next few weeks an unlikely group of six ordinary men of different shapes and sizes form themselves into a group of male strippers....
About
the film.
Filmed in 1997 on location in Sheffield in the north of England, ‘The
Full Monty’ made audiences laugh around the world. The producers didn’t
have much money and the actors didn’t earn very much, but its mix of
comedy, human tragedy and great music warmed people’s hearts.
It was nominated for four Oscars, but unfortunately it had to compete
against the film ‘Titanic’, which took a record 13 Oscars at the Academy
Awards in Hollywood that year.
Themes
This story is very much about men. It is about how men cope with losing
their jobs and keeping their dignity. We see men from very different
backgrounds sharing the common experience of unemployment. It also deals
with the effect of unemployment on relationships between friends and
between men and women. Although Gaz and Mandy love each other, their
marriage cannot stand the strain of Gaz without work. Dave and Jean love
each other but have stopped sharing their problems and worries, leading
to a tense atmosphere. Gerald lives a lie with his wife, Linda, because
he is too ashamed to tell her that he has lost his job.