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Several contemporary reviewers noted that this documentary couldn't have been
made were it not for Ken Loach and his reputation. Loach was able to provide the
dockers with an opportunity to speak for themselves that had previously been
largely denied to them in the British media.
Loach has commented that "Working-class people have an eloquence that's very
seldom recognised," an observation borne out in his documentary and fiction
work. The articulacy of The Flickering Flame's protagonists is striking. Doreen,
spokeswoman of Women of the Waterfront, is particularly charismatic with her
direct, crisp language and polite determination in the face of unresponsive
authority figures such as Bill Morris and Peter Hain.
The Flickering Flame represents an unofficial sequel to Loach's 1969
Wednesday Play (BBC, 1963-70), 'The Big Flame' (tx. 19/2/1969), written by his
frequent collaborator Jim Allen. That drama showed a workers' occupation of the
Liverpool docks and its brutal suppression, and was written shortly before a
similar event actually took place in Liverpool. As the title suggests, by the
time of The Flickering Flame it seems that the power of worker resistance had
dwindled.
The programme is subtitled 'a story of contemporary morality', and Loach
raises questions about the relationship between moral and legal definitions of
right and wrong actions. The dockers are willing to take painful action to
support what they believe is right. One docker's declaration that "if the law's
wrong we have to fight it" perhaps sums up the programme's challenges to the
twin establishment figures of employers and union leaders.
Though the dockers' dispute had gained little media coverage at the time, it
went on to win significant publicity, thanks in part to this programme.
Liverpool footballer Robbie Fowler attracted attention when he
displayed a T-shirt bearing the slogan 'Support the 500 Sacked Dockers' during a
goal celebration in a 1997 European Cup Winners' Cup match. He was subsequently
fined by the European football authority, UEFA.
The dispute went on to become one of the longest in British industrial
relations history. In February 1998 the dockers finally accepted a settlement
that fell well short of their longstanding objectives. Whatever the outcome of
the dispute, however, The Flickering Flame stands as a tribute to ordinary
workers and their families struggling to protect their livelihoods.
The same dispute later inspired the powerful drama-documentary, Dockers
(Channel Four, tx. 11/7/1999), written by Liverpool-born Jimmy McGovern in
collaboration with Liverpool dockworkers themselves.
Ros Cranston
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1. The rate for the job (3:40)
