The Old Oak: Ken Loach’s latest film, still poignant (review)

An English town plagued by impoverishment where the arrival of refugees divides its inhabitants while creating a surge of humanity. As he approaches his 90th birthday, Ken Loach is not giving up.

Three years after its presentation at the Cannes Film Festival, The Old Oak arrives unencrypted on French television, this evening on France 5.

An event since the drama of Ken Loach is quite simply the ultimate achievement of the British filmmaker, who has since announced his wish to retire.

For The Old Oak, Ken Loach chose to go back – slightly – in time. It takes us back to 2016 in a village in the North East of England, a mining town plagued by massive unemployment where the arrival of Syrian refugees will create tensions in an increasingly impoverished population. And the director of The Wind Rises makes the local pub (the Old Oak which gives it its title) and his boss, tender and worn, via his friendship with a Syrian woman keen on photography the backbone of his new film with humanity that tugs at your heart.

See you almost 90 years old, Loach don’t disarm. While inequalities everywhere are growing, he still believes in the possibility of a better world. He refuses to accept that the wretched of the Earth devour each other instead of revolting against those who caused this situation. It has anchored in the heart the certainty that the humanism of some will ultimately triumph over the filth instigated by others, those who seek abroad as the scapegoat for their misfortunes.

This utopia could seem fabricated and naive. His detractors – those who insist that the Englishman makes left-wing films for right-wing people – will not fail to harass him on this subject. But with Loach, due to his entire career as a man and filmmaker, this utopia sweeps you away with its profound sincerity and its desire to re-weave a link – too often damaged or broken – between the struggles of the left of yesterday and those of today. Like a poignant antidote to all these sad passions that undermine our time.

Another world is possible, and even necessary”: in Cannes, Ken Loach’s committed speech in full