British director Ken Loach isn't known for politically subtle films; his stories are ones which grounded in one political worldview, promoting and expounding it from a variety of angels. That's not to say he's necessarily heavy-handed; but he runs that risk on occasions. Approaching this film, aware that it was his state of the (British) nation address from the point of view of people lost in a labyrinthine benefits system, I was expecting something I would be naturally sympathetic to but possibly alienated from due to what I expected to be broad-brush strokes. I was wrong; it's Loach's most nuanced and delicate film, telling a simple story with slowly simmering rage. A widowed man is signed off sick from work due to a heart condition; as he attempts to claim the benefits he needs he befriends a single mother and her children as they too seek the support the state should be giving them. Though the script is compelling, the real strength of the film is in its silences and counterpoints; the personal care of the food bank volunteers against the largely dispassionate, impersonal government employees. This results in the films most moving scene - a visit to a food bank where a combination of hunger and receiving compassion tip a desperate, nearly crushed woman in to an act of quiet desperation that's heartbreaking to watch. It's to the film's immense credit that it doesn't drift into anti-climax afterwards; yet neither is there a cheap, easy victory or moment of false hope. Hope is there, but it walks a vulnerable line of being extinguished by the system designed to serve the very people lost under the weight rules and regulations. It's a story of the people who fall through the cracks; it reminded me of Dickens' urgent, prophetic tales of urban poverty and never ending legal wranglings - and the film does not suffer from such lofty comparison. We're left asking: do we contribute to such systems' oppression and suffering, or do we seek out those who are lost, sit with them, listen to them, walk with them? It's a film of difficult questions and few answers; but that is moving, satisfying, funny and eloquent for all that.
Review of I, Daniel Blake
