With a Ken Loach film you know that you are going to get strident social commentary – and unashamedly (bless him), it is from the Left. His latest is set in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, a world away from the high-rent glamour of London and the village-dotted dales of that green and pleasant land (no cheery vicars here). Widowed Daniel (Dave Johns) has been laid off work because of a heart attack, but the outsourced benefits office that is meant to alleviate his plight deems him ineligible for support payments. He can, though, qualify for some relief if he actively seeks employment – which his doctor insists he shouldn’t. As in Kafka’s The Trial, if it weren’t so infuriating it would be comic. Unexpectedly, he teams up with Katie (Hayley Squires), a single mother of two who is having a similarly futile experience with bureaucracy. Loach relies on neither visual gimmickry nor a heavy-handed Pavlovian soundtrack to make his point – he tells the story pure and simple. It is impossible not to find galling the degree to which the State (in Oz as well as the UK, if you’ve not been paying attention) has dehumanised so many people, or to be outraged by the blatant propaganda (ie bullshit) that attempts to mask the damage caused to so many for whom nothing trickles down in laissez faire capitalism’s rosy gluttony. Loach’s camera is taken to the streets and to a food bank – an incredibly harrowing scene – where there is only our shared humanity to be challenged and humbled by. What prevents agit-prop from stifling the movie is the entirely natural but avuncular relationship that grows between Daniel and Katie and the extraordinary performances from all involved. Katie’s kids (Brianna Shann and Dylan McKiernan) are beautiful, as is Daniel’s tenement neighbour (Kema Sikazwe), who flogs trainers on the street that he is importing by post from an online football tragic in China. And the ladies at the welfare office are poison and gold. Reality is out of vogue, but this is special.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling.
If you are a local business owner help us and in turn we help you. All The Echo asks for is advertising, not a free ride. It is every advert in The Echo and on www.echo.net.au, which creates the space for all the stories and coverage of community events, happenings and concerns.
If you are a reader you can become a sponsor of The Echo. Your support keeps the us independent.
Even a small one-off or regular donation from you will help keep the echo’s independent voice alive and strong.
Support Us
Become one of the supporters who helps keep independent, local journalism alive in the Byron Shire by contributing anything from as little as the cost of a coffee each month.
You’re supporting The Echo, thank you
Your contribution is keeping independent, local journalism alive in the Northern Rivers.
Because of supporters like you, we can keep every story free for everyone — no paywall, no exceptions. Your money goes directly to funding our newsroom of 40-odd local workers covering the stories that matter to this community.
Tell us what you think, give us your opinion
The Echo loves your letters and comments and is proud to provide a community forum on the issues that matter most to our readers and the people of the NSW north coast. So don’t be a passive reader, email us your epistles at editor@echo.net.au.
The letters deadline for The Echo is noon Friday. Letters longer than 200 words may be cut. The publication of letters is at the discretion of the letters editor. Please remember to include your full name, address and telephone number.
Online comments are no longer available.
