Nobody quite portrays Britain
like Ken Loach. And if one thing is for certain in the eclectic world of
British cinema, it is that the veteran director’s social realist pieces provide
an acerbic depiction of the country that bore him. His latest offering I, Daniel Blake looks to expose injustice
in contemporary Britain for perhaps one of his most timely cinematic offerings yet.
Never one to
obscure his ideologies and critiques, Loach has seemingly been galvanised into
this return to filmmaking (he retired in 2014) by a country he sees as
suffering from a vicious austerity agenda. In response, he’s crafted a film
with an agenda of its own.
Newcastle
serves as the milieu for this potent tale to unfurl. The film opens with a
black screen as we hear our protagonist, Daniel Blake (portrayed compellingly
by comedian Dave Johns), being barked at by an apathetic health care professional.
Despite being deemed unfit to work by a doctor after a recent heart attack, the
unfair test reverses the doctor’s findings. To make matters worse, Daniel’s
entire working life has been in skilled manual labour and the internet-driven
present day of online JSA forms and ordering fake trainers from China has
passed him by.
This sets the narrative in motion with Daniel stuck in a
purgatory between job seekers allowance and disability benefits as he appeals
the decision. Daniel’s predicament works to display the absurdity of a system
that expects someone incapable of working to spend 35 hours a week handing out
CV’s.
On one of his many travels to the unsupportive job centre,
Daniel happens upon a single mother-of-two, Katie (Hayley Squires), who has
just been relocated from London through a housing scheme. As she’s minutes late
for her appointment, she is being penalised and is risks having her benefits
frozen. Her pleas that she had to find her way around the new city fall on
unsympathetic ears. Stunned by the lack of compassion, Daniel steps in to
intervene – thus sparking a genuinely touching friendship where both find solace
in each others support.
Cynics often berate Ken Loach’s films as didactic
propaganda, suffused in left wing principles. It would be difficult to apply
this criticism to the script devised by frequent Loch collaborator Paul Laverty
though. The material for the film is inspired by and based upon meticulous
research and interviews. This detail only serves to worsen the blow of scenes
such Katie’s daughter confessing to being ridiculed for having broken school
shoes, or Daniel’s presentation of his handwritten CV. One scene that has a acutely
lasting resonance is Katie’s hunger induced breakdown in a food bank, made all
the more palpable by the fact that over a million people in the UK are now
forced to use food banks.
This is a candid and profoundly affecting film that is
bolstered by social realist conventions such shooting on location, natural
lighting and unknown actors. With static wide-angle shots and the ability to
inspire formidable performances from his cast, Loach once again proves that the
spirit of De Sica is alive in modern cinema. Delivered with the idiosyncratic
injection of scathing politics and intense tenderness that make him an auteur
in his own right. Just as he did with Cathy
Come Home in the 60’s and countless others throughout his career, Loach
manages to evoke empathy and awareness for those that truly need it.
Sometimes a piece of cinema means a little more than mere
entertainment. This is a cut-to-your-core representation of bureaucracy vs.
society. A government telling people to strive for more isn’t helpful when
you’ve got 12 quid in your purse and mouths to feed. I, Daniel Blake isn’t a film; it’s a war cry for change.
I, DANIEL BLAKE / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: KEN LOACH /
SCREENPLAY: PAUL LAVERTY / STARRING: DAVE JOHNS, HAYLEY SQUIRES, SHARON PERCY,
BRIANA SHANN, DYLAN MCKIERNAN / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW
Expected:
8/10
Actual:
