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Movie of the Week: ‘I Daniel Blake’ and the unsustainable cost of living crisis
Only recently has the true extent of the cost of living crisis truly been felt by everyday British people, with the fall in ‘real’ disposable income having been declining since late 2021. Caused by high inflation and further exacerbated by recent tax increases that have come about due to the steadily worsening energy crisis, it is difficult to see where true change will come from, particularly with a shambolic Conservative government that has long put its own interests above all else.
In such a crisis, that has recently seen UK inflation rise to 10.1%, families across the UK have been forced to live on the breadline, in some cases having to even choose between eating food and heating their homes. With over 2,500 food banks across the UK, and the Trussell Trust reporting an 81% increase in usage across their sites, the country is in need of genuine social and political change from the bottom-up.
Cinema has long been used as a tool for change, with filmmaker Ken Loach, the pioneer of British social realism, having long been known for his provocative filmmaking methods and stark attitude towards contemporary issues. Loach has demonstrated this since the very start of his career, with his docudrama Cathy Come Home sparking public outrage in 1966, even prompting the homeless charities ‘Crisis’ and ‘Shelter’ to be set up as a result of its release.
Telling stories of the disaffected working class, Loach strives for social change to this very day, with his Palme d’Or-winning 2016 movie, I, Daniel Blake, remaining a pertinent social document that is fueled with the same political vigour as his early projects. Casting somewhat unknown actors Dave Johns and Hayley Squires, Loach creates a movie that cries for genuine humanity in a modern society that seems so lacking.
A powerful condemnation of a broken welfare system fuels Loach’s celebrated film that sees a single 60-year-old man recovering from a heart attack help to care for a young single mother and her two kids who are trying to survive in poverty. Attempting to survive on two different ends of the same issue, the two characters act as each other’s support lines, giving them their time and energy out of pure compassion.
Well demonstrating how peculiarly stringent sanctions of welfare benefits are, whilst also illustrating how public servants can dehumanise though looking for help, Loach’s film is a damning indictment on the state of modern Britain. Thanks to a heartbreaking bond that is created between the two lead characters, Loach creates a story that is fused together with an endearing human touch.
Frequently focusing on how it is the responsibility of everyday people to offer a helping hand when the government itself is failing, the might of Loach’s artistry comes to light in one unforgettable scene in a food bank. Joining a mass queue of people also walking into the community-run charity service, the single mother, Katie, is helped around the store, picking out groceries until she feels compelled to open a tin of beans, desperately eating the contents in the shadows of the shelves.
In a moving scene that speaks to the urgency of Britain’s cost of living crisis, Loach took considerable time to put the moment together. Speaking in Political Critique, the director stated: “In I, Daniel Blake, when the woman is handing out the parcel of food to a woman who has nothing, she doesn’t say, ‘Here’s your charitable food’; instead she says, ‘Can I help you with your shopping?’”.
Continuing, the director adds: “On the one hand you have that generosity, and on the other is the state, which behaves in the most consciously cruel way possible, knowing that it is driving people to hunger. Capitalist society is caught in this schizophrenic situation and it is depending on us to organise the solidarity”.
Whilst many films strive to represent working-class characters, there is a difference to Loach’s approach in the sense that his projects result in genuine social and political influence.
Upon the release of I, Daniel Blake, for instance, the film was discussed in parliament, with the Labour Party’s then-Leader, Jeremy Corbyn, appearing at the film’s London premiere. In addition, Loach appeared on BBC’s topical debate programme Question Time and translated the issues displayed in the film to reality, stating, “When you’re sanctioned your life is forced into chaos, and people are going to food banks. How can we live in a society where hunger is used as a weapon?”.
Unfortunately, six years after the release of Loach’s classic, little has changed.
