Film and socialism

I’ve always like Ken Loach’s films, more for their humor and social realism than anything else. His determination to present people in a humanized light and his focus on social inequalities is unlike most other directors currently working. ‘Bread and Roses’, ‘My Name is Joe’– are both films that illustrate average working men and women who can’t get a break – or decent working conditions. 

His 2006 film ‘The Wind that Shakes the Barley’ documents Ireland’s fight for independence in the early 1920’s. The violence of a small group of organized rebels fighting back against England’s dominion is shocking, but also seems necessary. Having a third or more of my ancestors from northern Ireland, I can relate.

It also points to how ongoing intruding force in a country can radicalize its constituents and simply create more destruction. There is a later New York Times review in more detail here, of which I’ll include an excerpt:

Mr. Loach, now 70, has been a thorn in the side of the right for over four decades. His work has consistently probed the class struggle and the exploitation of ordinary people by those in positions of authority. These include dismissive schoolteachers (“Kes”), a bullying mother (“Family Life”), unfeeling social service employees (“Cathy Come Home”;“Ladybird, Ladybird”) and employers who exploit and endanger workers (“RiffRaff”,“Bread and Roses,” “The Navigators”). He previously championed revolutionaries in “Land and Freedom,” which showed how the Marxist cause was betrayed by the Stalinists during the Spanish Civil War, and “Carla’s Song,” which grappled with the atrocities committed against the Nicaraguan Sandinistas by the Pentagon-backed contras.

While Michael Moore’s documentaries have shown us the same kind of issues, Loach’s work is artistry and he allows the talent of his actors to carry the work. I wish he’d make a film about small farmers versus the agricultural industrial complex. We’ll soon be grappling with that issue in every country.