[FILM]
BLUE JEAN
Whistle-blower: Georgia Oakley’s debut feature sheds light on the effects of the deplorable Section 28.
★★★★
OUT 10 FEBRUARY / CERT TBC / 97 MINS
DIRECTOR Georgia Oakley
CAST Rosy McEwen, Kerrie Hayes, Lucy Halliday, Lydia Page, Stacy Abalogun, Amy Booth-Steel
PLOT 1988, north-east England. As the UK introduces new homophobic laws, secondary school teacher Jean (McEwen) is forced to hide the fact that she is a lesbian from her colleagues. A new pupil (Halliday) threatens to shatter Jean’s personal and professional life.
THERE ARE FEW laws in living memory more shameful than Section 28. Introduced by Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative government, it essentially enshrined homophobia into law, preventing teachers from the “promotion of homosexuality” in schools, and fostering a climate of mistrust and fear that continued well into the current generation (the law was only repealed in 2003 in England and Wales). It’s into this environment that first-time writer-director Georgia Oakley finds a personal angle in the political struggle, telling the story of Jean (Rosy McEwen, in her first lead role), a woman caught in the headlights of history.