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8 out of 8 people found the following comment useful :- Shockingly bleak brilliance from Mike Leigh, 31 August 1999 Author: simon-118 from London
A classic BBC Play For Today from the days when televsion still provided a forum for this sort of comment, one that directly screamed at its audience in defiance. Hard Labour is chiefly noticeable for an excellent cast and several superbly staged scenes. Clifford Kershaw turns in a very different performance to his usual lonely old man role. Two of the finest scenes are the love scene and the clocking on at work. The "Love scene" is really anything but, as Jim returns drunk and unbearably loudly undresses while his wife sleeps. Then he forcefully has sex with her. Leigh's brilliance comes in keeping the camera away from the events, lingering almost asleep on the pillow so we feel powerless to stop the horrible events. Another fine scene is where Jim arrives to his nightshift and talks to his supervisor, a scene that goes through numerous subtle psychological changes. Also of note is Louis Raynes fine turn as the tallyman and one of the plays more klikeable characters in the form of Ben Kingsley. One excellent feature of this play is that it could be set anytime in the last 100 years. It is 1973 but for a long time early on could be almost Victorian so horrendous are the lifestyles. Producer Tony Garnett commented in the Radio Times before broadcast "If you are not shocked by this play, you have already been brainwashed." Bring back Play For Today!!
5 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :- Another masterful study of the small moments in life., 9 March 1999 Author: freakus from San Francisco, CA
Like most of Leigh's early works this is all about watching the details of ordinary life. The "plot" as such revolves around a woman (Smith) and the suffering she goes through every day without taking any notice. She bears her hard life impassively and has most likely known nothing else. She is treated miserably by her family and her employer and accepts it as her lot in life as millions of working class women have before her. The ensemble cast is brilliant (watch for a very young Ben Kingsley in a sweet role as a cab driver) and I was particularly impressed with Kershaw's role as the hopeless wreck of a husband.
3 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :- A time well buried, 3 August 2008 Author: paul2001sw-1 (paul2001sw@yahoo.co.uk) from Saffron Walden, UK
'Bleak Moments', 'Hard Labour': the titles of Mike Leigh's early works certainly pull no punches; and at times, when watching the latter, one yearns for the hilarious ambiguity of the later works like 'Life is Sweet', for it's uncomfortable viewing. A portrait of life in a decidedly unfashionable northern town circa 1973, you could be forgiven for thinking that the sixties had never swung; life here is ugly, and riven by divisions defined by class and sex. As always with Leigh, there are some acute observations, and the central character's upwardly mobile daughter-in-law, played by Alison Steadman, provides a hint of a world I recognise (and also a hint of Steadman's later turn in 'Abigail's party'). But there's not many laughs, just unrelenting awfulness. Life is still hard for many, but it's hard to feel nostalgic for this lost world. What should be regretted, however, is the loss of 'Play for Today', and the immense amount of talent that used to go into making dramas like this (to be broadcast to huge audiences by modern standards); in the world of multi-channels and celebrities, something, at least, has been lost.
2 out of 2 people found the following comment useful :- Slice of life example of kitchen sink (terrific), 14 July 2008 Author: FRANK GIBBARD (frank.gibbard@fsmail.net) from Ealing London England
Of course this is excellent professional stuff, shown tonight on BBC 4 to showcase Liz Smith. What was said before here I can only endorse fully and what a surprise to find Ben Kingsley appear quite unexpectedly, as a mini-cab controller, showing early flashes of brilliance. Great BBC Play For Today almost polemic in depth of social anthropology conveyed in simple scenes with sparse but exceptionally naturalistic and believable dialogue.Scare alert - there is a real yuck moment where Liz Smith is required to massage her old husband's extremely hairy back that must have been revolting for her, the unexpected sacrifice of acting. Bernard Hill turns in as usual a convincing performance as an under the thumb husband to Alison Steadman's control freak.Old style pubs and seedy streets add to the time capsule value of this production which I thoroughly enjoyed, an unexpected treat as I had never heard of this at all before.
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