I, Daniel Blake Review

 

Never before, in my cinema-going history, have I ever walked out in a perfect state of shock and anger. Except for the Smurfs movie, but that was for a completely different reason. For Hand-Up Theatre, I, Daniel Blake is one of the most captivating, considerate and thought provoking films to reach British audiences in the last fifty years. The film follows Daniel Blake, a carpenter who, after a doctor’s assessment, is unable to work due to a heart problem. We see this man’s journey from losing his job, getting lost in myriads of bureaucratic systems, paperwork and online forms, to the impact this has on his wellbeing and the way he sees himself. Blake’s story intertwines unexpectedly with Katie’s, a young single mother who has recently moved from London to Newcastle with her two children due to the unfair ending of an assured shorthold tenancy. These main characters begin a burgeoning relationship based on the help they give to each other and the emotional gaps they come to occupy. 

 

Ken Loach has created another piece of social justice drama that will accompany his classic ‘Cathy Come Home’, yet this will be a film he did not want to make. Half a century on homelessness is increasing, housing prices are barely reachable however hard you work and relative poverty is still seen as the only outcome of a ‘fair’ society. The films heart-breaking ending was met with an eerie silence, as if we had just finished a realistic horror film. And we had in a way. What is more terrifying than a damning assessment of the reality we live in? Conversations went on behind us as we got up out of our seats: “Was that based on a true story?” “No, I mean, were the characters based on real people?” Yes, it is a true story, lived out by citizens every day. As Ken Loach says in an interview with the Guardian, ‘That constant humiliation to survive. If you’re not angry about it, what kind of person are you?’ Hand-Up Theatre are angry and we will voice our displeasure with positive action. Watch the film and be the change. We are all Daniel Blake.