I, Daniel Blake

Franz Kafka's The Trial is famed for it's depiction of an impenetrable labyrinthine bureaucracy, the banality of totalitarianism, the powerless of the individual faced with the complexities of authority, and for providing the inspiration for Iain Duncan Smith's vision for the DWP.

OK, I may have made that last bit up, but I, Daniel Blake is a powerful reminder of the narrow boundary between truth and fiction.  A fifty something carpenter who is recovering from a serious heart attack, Blake has been told by his doctors he should not return to work for a lengthy period.  But the DWP have been instructed to ignore expert medical opinion and instead heed the decision of the rather less than expert staff at Atos.  Blake is told that, by DWP standards, he is considered fit to work.

He tries to help a young mother, Katie, who has been moved to Newcastle from London where the authorities are unable to find her suitable accommodation, and is having similar problems getting enough money to live on.  She eventually resorts to desperate remedies just to feed her kids.  Blake, with only himself to look out for, tries to hold out, but is forced into an action that reflects the downward spiral he has become trapped in.  The one thing that kept him going, hope, is steadily eroded by the obstacles that dog him throughout.

Meticulously researched, Ken Loach has produced a picture of Britain that most of us are fortunate enough not to experience, but could easily just be a mishap away from.  To be able to keep his life together Blake has to look for work he's not fit to do.  It's humiliating, confusing, and, if you've no experience of accessing the internet, inaccessible.  The whole system is dehumanising, not just for those trying to claim their dues, but for the staff who have to administer it, being forced to meet artificial targets at the expense of the human beings who have come to them for help.

Dave Johns is superb as the central figure, clinging to his dignity with humour and humanity, and understandable fury and frustration.  Hayley Squires' Katie is an intense portrayal of desperation.  This is drama, so there are moments of pathos, of tear inducing sadness, but the audience doesn't feel any sense of emotional manipulation.  The sense of reality is too ingrained in the fabric of the movie for any suggestion that this is melodrama (and Loach has been careful to use well documented incidents as the basis for his action).

Mhairi Black is right, anyone who has responsibility for the way we treat the less fortunate in society should be made to watch I, Daniel Blake.  Probably the most important British film of 2016.