THE FULL MONTY

Nominated for Best Picture and Best Director at the 70th Annual Academy Awards, The Full Monty is a film about real people with real problems. Modernisation can cause loss of jobs, as a small town called sheffield learns when its steel factories close down. One of the laid off steel factory workers, Gaz, played by Robert Carlyle of Trainspotting, is a divorcee with a young son. Another is an obese young man, Dave, who lacks sexual confidence. And another is their ex-foreman Gerald, played by Tom Wilkinson, who simly cannot tell his wife that he no longer has a job. Driven by Gaz, the three get together to make a living from stripping, with the enigmatic title, The Full Monty, meaning to strip naked.

This huge British hit is a comedy and an intelligent drama at the same time. For example , it may poke fun at an overnight man's lack of confidence when it comes to removing his clothes, but it examines his marital problems with genunie concern, It faces you with the difficulties of life, and it makes you see humour in them. For example, Gerald pretends to leave for work everyday and continues to foot his wife's shopping bills, while he is actually looking desperately for a job. It depicts strained human relations, and it brings you closer to your loved ones. Gaz loves his son, but his ex-wife doesn't think much of him, especially when it comes to earning a livelihood. These and a multitude of other characters make The Full Monty something more than just a film about jobless men resorting to stripping.

Director Peter Cattaneo may not have had a big budget, but he certainly has a big heart. His generosity comes through in every character of his, who give without having anything for themselves in the first place, but only gain from giving.