Ken Loach, Spokesman of the Dispossessed, Wins his Second Palm D’Or for Movie “I, Daniel Blake”
A great figure of European cinema, Ken Loach, won a Palm D’Or for his art and his constant calling to care for humanity in an increasingly digital XXI century. He won the award in the Cannes Festival for his movie “I, Daniel Blake”, which tells two intertwined stories: on one hand, the one of a carpenter who just overcame a heart attack, and tries to obtain a pension from the national health system because he’s unable to work. On the other hand, there’s the story of a young mother of two who’s on the brink of a life crisis and about to fall into misery. In his acceptance award, he said: “I come to the festival because it’s fundamental for the survival of cinema. Please, resist”.
The 79-year Ken Loach, is known for his socialist beliefs and the social realism of his work. He has always been faithful to himself in describing his concern about the state of affairs and his view on how fucked up life can be for those who are poor. He captures the life of the “excluded”, angry protagonists, who are the people on which the system feeds. Though some of his films are accused of being propagandistic, they depict truth, sentiment and complexity. I, Daniel Blake is the best movie this director has made in a long time.
Loach goes back to the suburbs of London, to tell the almost absurd story of a carpenter to whom doctors have told he’s at risk of dying if he doesn’t relax, but at the same time, is forced by the bureaucratic system to find a job if he wants to receive a pension to live. And despite his desperate situation, he still shows his solidarity with a young woman and her two children, who finds all other doors shut, and is getting by thanks to soup kitchens and social housing. This story is told with such realism that it shakes the viewer.
The usual suspects -- the worshipers of pretentious and fashionable nothingness -- criticised Loach of making an old and outdated form of cinema. We celebrate their bewilderment at the triumph of a director in a festival that usually embraces only ephemeral trends.
Slightly edited version of the story in Dawn.
Disclaimer: The views expressed here are the author's personal views, and do not necessarily represent the views of Newsclick
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