At 80 Ken Loach is still able to deliver a devastating body blow.
Cathy Come Home 1966. The story of the underclass in 60's Tory Britain.
in 1966 Cathy Come Home exploded onto our TV screen with its shocking revelations of the plight of the homeless.
I, Daniel Blake 2016
50 years on it would seem little has changed. I, Daniel Blake is Loach's targeted indictment of our Welfare State and its use of a Kafkaesque and Catch 22 web of confusion for the many individuals trying to hold a life together.
Once more Loach has focused his camera on the plight of the ignored and often forgotten in society. It is a profoundly upsetting and moving film, made with utter integrity from all concerned.
There should be compulsory screenings in the House of Commons and the Lords with the doors securely locked. Perhaps then it will distract their self-serving minds from ensuring that they get every last penny of their expenses claims. It should also be shown to all those anonymous civil servants responsible for penning the nightmarish jargon for the Social Security office forms.
Kes 1969. The boy with a wealth of hidden knowledge
The Wind That Shakes The Barley 2006. Exposing the brutality of the British in Ireland.
I find it extraordinary that we live in a country that awards greed driven individuals like Philip Green with a Knighthood and overlooks the very many individuals who have spent their entire lives giving to others. I feel sure that over the years Ken Loach has been approached by the honours committee but, has no doubt quietly declined. But he is already a king, the king of social realism. And his film is a worthy winner of the Cannes Palme d'Or.
See the trailer for I, Daniel Blake HERE