I, DANIEL BLAKE – Review

Yes, we’re knee-deep in bombastic Summer blockbusters, but that doesn’t mean film goers can’t grab a breath and take in a thought-provoking, very relevant, drama that was honored with lots of awards and critical praise during the last months of 2016. It even stirred up some political debate across the pond. There have been lots of articles about the smooth-running government social services in England (particularly the health care system). Well, veteran film maker Ken Loach (THE WIND THAT SHAKES THE BARLEY) begs to differ. In his latest film to finally reach our shores, he takes dead aim at the public assistance bureaucracy by presenting the story of one determined, beleaguered “every man”, a bloke who’s tired of being just another case number. He makes a very strong declaration with I, DANIEL BLAKE.

We first hear Mr. Blake (Dave Johns) as he is pelted with the same familiar questions from a federal “pencil pusher”. Daniel, a 59 year-old childless widower, suffered a heart attack on a construction job months before (“tumbled off the scaffolding”). His doctors and therapists don’t believe he is ready to return to work, so Dan is applying for an employment and support allowance (funds and savings are drying up),  waiting to get the results of a work capability assessment. The government’s medical experts have to deem him fit or unfit. As he waits for the decision, Blake picks up spare bit of wood from the lumberyard (he’s quite a great carver), and chastises his neighbor China (Kema Sikazwe) for leaving his trash bags in the walkway of their modest apartment complex. Finally, Dan gets the letter saying he has been denied support. After being put on a long, loooong hold on the phone, he speaks with a clerk who says that the “decision maker” will review his appeal…eventually. But the “wolf’s at the door” (the utilities may be cut off), so Daniel applies for unemployment at the jobcare center (he’ll have to prove that he’s actively seeking work, and keep a CV style resume’). At the center he hears a “row” when a young single mother named Katie (Hayley Squires) is denied an interview because she’s late (a new transplant from London, she’s still learning the layout of Newcastle). Befriending her, Daniel walks with her and her children, hyper six year-old Dylan (Dylan McKiernan) and quiet ten year-old Daisy (Briana Shann) back to their run-down flat. Daniel becomes their “Dutch uncle”, repairing and fixing up, even babysitting as Katie tries to find cleaning work. While Daniel struggles to make use of the library’s computers (he’s so tech illiterate) in order to fill out more forms, Katie becomes more and more desperate. After being caught shoplifting, she’s recruited by an “adult escort” service. When Daniels learns of this, he is devastated. How will this affect their friendship? And when will he get his appeal? It’s a drawn-out waiting game that he may not survive.

What could have been merely a scathing political indictment is transformed into a moving character drama thanks to the remarkable lead performance by Johns as the man fighting the power (as the John Cougar Mellencamp ditty goes, “I fight authority, authority always wins”). His Blake is a simple, straightforward man who is finally pushed past the brink. He will jump through “their” hoops, but not without literally cursing the darkness. We’re rooting for this old “duffer” every step of the way, especially when we see his playful side. Learning the basics of computer, he dangles a mouse as if he were removing a dead rodent. And though he badgers China, we later see them joking, almost becoming “mates”. Johns really conveys his gentler, softer side as Blake bonds with Katie and her kids. And Squires is so terrific as the “kicked around by life’ mum, that the film could almost be called “We, Katie and Daniel”. While it appears that Blake will somehow survive, her life seems to be rushing to disaster. There’s a sadness in her eyes which lets us in her disappointment (the two kids are from different dads, and neither are in the picture), and her secret shame. She tries to put on a brave front for her little ones, but despair overtakes her as she scrubs away at a hovel that will never be clean. Katie’s collapse at the food bank is a haunting glimpse of someone whose life is circling the drain with Daniel perhaps her only lifeline ( she’s too proud to beg mum for help and we hear nothing of a papa). McKiernan is charming as the little “handful” of a lad (I think “spirited” is the term), while Shann is the thoughtful “old soul”. Her story of how her school mates teased her when her shoes fell apart will pummel the heart-strings. The rest of the acting troupe, which include several non professionals (the food bank lady really works there), offer excellent support.

Working from Paul Laverty’s sensitive, compelling screenplay, director Loach has crafted an intimate, emotional film that makes so many campaign “talking points’ painfully real. These aren’t numbers in a study or colors on a power point chart, rather real people in real danger of falling through the cracks of society. Loach shows us how hopeless the working class feel when trapped inside a vicious circle of endless forms and phone calls. And how personal dignity decays from desperation (starving to death in a city is a real possibility). Yes, this is a “call to arms”, but it’s also a tender love story as Daniel, amid all the misery, finds the family he needs, while Katie and her crew gets the sweet, nurturing “grandpa” they deserve. Though the last moments of the final act, seem a bit too contrived and manipulative (yes there’s a bit of “preaching to the choir”, I, DANIEL BLAKE is ultimately a tribute to the fighting, surviving spirit of those who society seems to often forget.

4.5 Out of 5

I, DANIEL BLAKE opens everywhere and screens exclusively in the St. Louis area at Landmark’s Tivoli Theatre

Listen for my reviews of this and other current movies over the next two Fridays (6/9 and 6/16) from 4 to 5 PM on the Paul Harris Show broadcast and streaming live through KTRS 550 AM