MA 15+, 100 minutes
3 Stars
Review by © Jane Freebury
Ken Loach
is into his 80s now, still powering on as a firebrand for social justice with
films about ordinary people up against the system. He has been an activist all
his life, from the theatre, to TV to the cinema. No story has been too big or
too small, as long as it got the point across.
Director
Loach and his frequent collaborator and screenwriter here, Paul Laverty, have a
reporter’s instinct for the social realist stories that will expose injustice
and tell it how it is. They are directed with a naturalistic aesthetic as
though they were the unvarnished truth, just like documentary.
There
have been exceptions, like the charming love story Ae Fond Kiss and
hallucinating soccer fandom in Looking for Eric, but Loach is strict
with himself and likes to keep clear of indulgences that filmmakers allow
themselves with sound, or music or special effects.
When he
won the Palme d’Or at Cannes a few years ago for I, Daniel Blake, it was
the second time he had received the honour. The first was a decade earlier for The
Wind That Shakes The Barley, set at the time of Irish independence and the
ensuing civil war.
on the other side of the desk sits
Gavin who is right across hollow management-speak
If the
accolades in 2016 were like the culmination of a life’s work for Loach, and the
moment to put his feet up, he didn’t. The gig economy is upon us and he has
found that there is still no time to rest, and with this painful and touching story
about a delivery van driver and his family, it’s hard not to agree. Like I,
Daniel Blake, it’s set in Newcastle, England.
 |
| Vindaloo for dinner: (from left) Ricky (Kris Hitchen), Liza Jane (Katie Proctor), Abbie (Debbie Honeywood) and Seb (Rhys Stone) |
From the
moment Ricky Turner (Kris Hitchen) has his interview to join parcel delivery
company PDF as a courier, it is impossible to imagine that things could go well
for him. Predictability in the narrative is the big problem here.
On the
other side of the desk sits Gavin Maloney (Ross Brewster) who is right across
hollow management-speak. Ricky won’t be working ‘for’ PDF, he’ll be working
‘with’ them. As an owner-driver he will get a ‘fee’ for his services, rather
than a wage, but it’s all spin that hides the fact that Ricky has to put $1,000
down on the van he will drive, work 12 hour shifts during which his movements
will be reported by his tracker or ‘preciser’, and he will be treated as though
he has no life outside work.
To get
set up with the van, Ricky and his wife Abbie (Debbie Honeywood) must sell the
car that she relies on for her work as a home-care nurse. She sees elderly
clients who are difficult to manage, and now she has to take the bus. The
upshot is a lot less family time with their teenage son Seb (Rhys Stone) and
11-year-old Liza Jane (Katie Proctor).
in between sounding like a man
and looking like a boy, Seb appears set to inherit his father’s disadvantage
This
saddens Liza while it angers Seb. He skips even more school and spends even
more time on his graffiti rounds. Of all the family members impacted by Ricky’s
job, it is Seb’s plight that speaks the loudest. Caught in between sounding
like a man and looking like a boy, Seb appears to be heading out of school
without quals, and set to inherit his father’s disadvantage.
It’s a
relief when the gloom and mounting tensions clear once in a while. With a
family get-together over a takeaway curry when a vindaloo gets the better of
Ricky, and when proud dad takes his daughter along on his delivery rounds. It
is, however, only a temporary diversion with a trajectory primed from the
start. There are few energising surprises for audiences here.
Were
Loach to be anything other than true to his socialist worldview, we would be
surprised, and he’s hit on a rich, new seam here with people like Ricky who are
entrapped on the service economy roundabout. It also shows how, in a wider
sense, workers with pride and aspiration can get crushed by an automated system
which elides rights and entitlements, operates strictly by the book, and
refuses to acknowledge that ‘service providers’ have a life and
responsibilities outside work.
Sorry We
Missed You has that
blunt urgency Loach often displays, but his actors are very good, and with this
forensic job on the system, he has made his point.
This review, first published in the Canberra Times on 31 December
2019, is also published on Jane's blog
- Featured image:
a lighter moment for Ricky (Kris Hitchen) and daughter Liza Jane (Katie
Proctor)
