'Up The Junction' (1968) Film Response

I felt that Up The Junction provided a different portrayal of women at the time to Alfie. Whilst the women in Alfie seemed quite submissive, the women in Up The Junction were a lot more confident and feisty. This was shown clearly by how Polly was a very decisive character and knew exactly what she wanted. She wouldn't let the male characters (in specific, Peter) sway her.
At first, Polly seems quiet and meek but throughout the film she takes a very strong role and almost seems to take charge of everyone around her.

There was a very interesting contrast between classes in Up The Junction. Whilst Chelsea was rarely visually portrayed, Battersea was shown a lot and seemed to be a busy, friendly community.  Peter views his future in somewhere like Chelsea which shows that it's a place and state of wealth people aspired to be in.
Up The Junction flipped this all over and provided a point of view from someone with money who wanted to be without it, much to the confusion of the Battersea characters.

Whilst class is a key aspect to the film, it also explores the freedom of women at that time and the consequences that freedom brought. Just like Alfie, Up The Junction had a disturbing abortion scene which highlighted the darker moments of the sixties.
More darker moments are seen when Rube's boyfriend gets killed and when there is a massive fight in the street at night. It's the scenes like this which destroy the stereotypical image of the 'swinging sixties' and shows that life wasn't quite as happy as it was said to be.

I personally followed the point of views of the Battersea characters and found it difficult to understand why Polly would want to live in somewhere like Battersea. This said, 50 years have passed so things like living conditions have changed so much that the apartment Polly wanted to live in was quite shocking by today's standards.
I found myself disliking Polly's character and I've been thinking about why I'm not keen on her. I think it's because the character of Polly and my own personality are very different so I struggle to understand why she says and does some of the things she does. That said, I really respect the character for having her own opinions.

I found soundtrack of Up The Junction very interesting as it used popular music of the time. The first time a song called 'I Need Your Love' is played is when Polly's friends sing it in the pub. The instrumental of the song is then echoed later in the film when she walks home and when she goes into the hotel. I think this is supposed to represent her happiness as the atmosphere at the pub was lively and she clearly had a great time. It reminds Polly and the audience of how Battersea is so much more fun and friendly than Chelsea.