Current mood:	tearful
Entry tags:	film, r.i.p.

Pete Postlethwaite is one of those British actors who you'll know the face of, even if you don't know his name. He's been in lots of very good films: Amistad, The Usual Suspects, In the Name of the Father. He passed away today after battling with cancer for a long while.

The reason he means a lot to me, personally, though, is his performance in the film Brassed Off. Brassed Off was initially marketed as a RomCom. And, to be fair to the marketers, it probably starts out that way. But it's so much more than that. If you've ever wanted to know how it felt to be a Yorkshire person in the late eighties/early nineties, if you've ever wondered why I struggled so hard with voting for the coalition we're now in, and why my fear and hatred of a Tory government is as blood and bone deep as it is, you should watch this film. But take some tissues. Sure, it starts of with dry Yorkshire wit and giggling over the RomComness between Ewan McGregor and Tara Fitzgerald... But it gets less and less funny as it goes on. It's the raw wounds of a county and a community laid bare for all to see, and Postlethwaite is the centre and heart of the film.

Postlethwaite got more and more politically active as he got older. An environmentalist and a humanitarian, he used to turn up at film premieres on his pushbike. I admire his principles, and his commitment. But most of all, I admire his Danny in Brassed Off.

Rest in peace, Pete.

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