Manic Street Preachers have posted the new video for ‘Anthem For A Lost Cause’, the second single from their Rewind The Film album, out now on Columbia.
It’s been directed by Kieran Evans, the man behind Saint Etienne’s Finisterre and last year’s Kelly + Victor, and a long-term Manics collaborator, having worked with them on the Generation Terrorists documentary Culture, Alienation, Boredom And Despair and the two previous videos from the new album, ‘Rewind The Film’ and ‘Show Me The Wonder’.
Evans’ film traces a woman abandoned by her miner husband and having her home gradually repossessed before finding solidarity in the women’s support groups, cutting in real footage filmed at the end of the 1984 miner’s strike by Swansea Women’s History Group, taken from the archive of the South Wales Miners’ Library at Swansea University.
Says Evans of the film: "After ‘Show Me The Wonder’, we started talking about extending the story into the 80s and about bringing in something more political. It was the era we all grew up in and the backdrop for what was really a modern British civil war. The heroic battle that wives of miners and the women’s support groups waged against an oppressive state hell bent on destroying their communities should be an inspiration to all. They represented the very essence of true socialist principles; collectivising and organising themselves not only to protest against the huge injustice they suffered at the hands of Thatcher but also to feed, clothe and support their fellow workers and their families. In some small way we wanted to bring a sense of this history to the promo and shine a light on the heroic women who took on Thatcher and her thugs. We should never forget their struggle."
Nicky Wire, Manics bassist, adds: "The film for ‘Anthem For A Lost Cause’ is heroic, emotional and defiant, a timely reminder of the power of support women gave their communities. And it looks beautiful too."
Watch the video above and read Wire taking us through Rewind The Film track-by-track and giving us his Baker’s Dozen.
