Picture of the movie Sorry We Missed You © Joss Barratt
Ken Loach, the art of seeking out injustice
The two-time winner of the Palme d'Or is In Competition once again with Sorry We Missed You, a social drama denouncing the hellish conditions imposed upon workers.
At 82 years old, Ken Loach continues to personify deeply humanist politically motivated cinema, even though his radical arguments are always portrayed in a naturally tender manner.
The British filmmaker is one of those who, camera in hand, rails against a liberal system that strangles the working class. “I’ve remained faithful to it, both politically and artistically,” states the director, who has fought against social injustice, the backbone of a filmography with a very hard-bitten style.
The marginalization of the poor, the exploitation of illegal immigrants, or the privatization of public services…a number of burning issues in post-Thatcher England have been brought to the screen by this intractably militant labor supporter.
Assisted by Paul Laverty, his screenwriter since 1995, Ken Loach takes up the struggle once again with Sorry We Missed You, a new anti-capitalistic diatribe that recounts the exhausting day-to-day life of Ricky and Abbie, a modest couple riddled with debt.
After being stricken by the financial crash of 2008, Ricky rushes around delivering packages for an online retailer that monitors his every move. Abbie no longer works long hours as a home care aide. Through their story, Ken Loach describes the experience of millions of employees wrung out by the hellish conditions of the working world.
The enormous success of the 2016 Palme d'or winner I, Daniel Blake, a searing feature film about the brutality of the British bureaucracy, convinced the duo to plunge back into an ambit overwhelmed by technological advances.
To prepare for the filmmaker’s twenty-seventh feature film, Paul Laverty crisscrossed Scotland in delivery trucks to collect the stories of self-employed delivery drivers. Casting for the film was done by drawing on non-professional actors familiar with the region surrounding Newcastle, the city of “Daniel Blake”, where Sorry We Missed You was filmed.
