Based on a true story from 1984, Pride begins with a fun, coiffed group of London gay and lesbian activists raising funds to support a beige, dusty Welsh mining community that's dragging itself through a protracted strike. The thing is, some of those stodgy Welshmen don't want to touch gross gay money! Then for an hour and a half, a string of instructive sequences—sequences we've seen so many times, they're practically part of our eternal souls—permanently dissolves the very notion of preconceptions and prejudice. Eventually, most of the beady-eyed Welsh bigots embrace their gay benefactors, and even the dustiest of the old Welsh biddies finds a few minutes to gigglingly reminisce about dildos or bore the hell out of an entire leather bar. AIDS provides some third-act bleakness, but we end on a hopeful final scene during which a giant mechanical arm holding a spray bottle will extend from the screen to force-mist your eyes while the closing credits roll over shots of the characters framed heroically against Whitehall. by Krishanu Ray