I, Daniel Blake(2016)
dir. Ken Loach
The form is the cruelty.
Where to watch: Free on Kanopy; rent Apple TV, AmazonLetterboxd ↗
Daniel, a Newcastle carpenter in his late fifties, is told by his doctors not to work after a heart attack and by the benefits system that he has to prove it, applying for jobs he cannot take. He befriends Katie, a single mother being sanctioned for turning up late to an appointment. Written by Paul Laverty, it won the Palme d'Or at Cannes in 2016.
Why it’s here
The film shows a welfare bureaucracy built to make people give up, and it does it without a villain: just forms, hold music and sanctions that turn a right into a favor. What's punk is that Loach puts the claimant, not the minister, at the center and refuses to soften what it costs. What's pedagogical is watching how process becomes policy, and how ordinary solidarity between two strangers is the only thing that works.
Where This Film Lives
- Setting
- United Kingdom
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