FOOD FOR THOUGHT (THE OLD OAK)

In the end, it's all about humanity.

It always has been in Ken Loach's films.

Regarded by some as a maverick, pot stirring, left wing English filmmaker, he's taken on big subjects - poverty, deprivation, civil war and addiction.

But throughout his entire career, the one constant has been a quest for decency in the darkness and a strong sense of community.

© Studio Canal, BBC Films, Sixteen Films & Le Pacte

All of those themes come crashing home in the twice Palme d'Or winner's 28th feature 'The Old Oak'.

Set in a former mining community in Durham, we're in the heart of the Red Wall - those Brexit supporting former British Labour Party strongholds captured by the Conservatives at the 2019 General Election.

Dave Turner plays TJ Ballantyne, a former miner turned landlord of The Royal Oak - a pub that has certainly seen better days.

Roped in by Claire Rodgerson's Laura into helping Syrian refugees settle in the local community, he watches them run the gauntlet of unhappy locals grumbling about their arrival.

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Facing a barrage of racial abuse and in some cases naked aggression, Ebla Mari's refugee Yara has her camera snatched off and when she tries to get it back, it is dropped on the ground.

Realising it is her treasured possession, TJ offers her some cameras belonging to his uncle in a boarded up function hall at the back of his pub.

Flattered by the gesture, Yara nevertheless turns down the offer because her camera has sentimental value - it was bought by her father who has gone missing in her homeland.

Yara is struck, however, by photographs that adorn the hall of the local community dining together during the miners strike.

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A message beside it reads the community that eats together, sticks together.

TJ resolves to help Yara out by selling his uncle's cameras and using the money to fix her one.

The Old Oaks' locals, meanwhile, complain about refugees being dumped on their community while no-one tends to the poverty and addiction afflicting them.

Chief among the complainants are Trevor Fox's Charlie, Chris McGlade's Vic and Jordan Louis' Garry.

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Occasionally their rants spill into racist barbs, with Vic particularly antagonistic towards Yara and her fellow refugees.

Charlie is particularly appalled at the exploitation of the local housing market by rental companies and when he asks TJ to open up the function room for public meetings to allow them to air their grievances, he's annoyed when the landlord rejects their request.

That annoyance turns to resentment when Yara, inspired by the function room photos, and Laura talk TJ into running a community kitchen where the refugees and deprived local kids can eat together.

Vic, Charlie and Garry believe TJ has gone soft and is turning his back on neighbours he grew up with.

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TJ, however, has thrown his weight behind a venture that recognises the poverty of local kids as well as the plight of refugees from a war torn country suddenly thrown into a community not of their choosing.

The aim is to find common ground and keep kids of all backgrounds fed.

However it is only a matter of time before the resentment among some of his patrons boils over.

Loach's movie, which is expected to be his last, is another stirring appeal for solidarity and compassion in a story that could be ripped straight from the headlines.

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As you'd expect, the veteran director directly challenges the rhetoric of anti-immigration politicians like Nigel Farage and Suella Braverman and challenges their depiction of asylum seekers.

The Syrians in his film are women and children catapulted into a foreign land in the most desperate of circumstances.

They'd rather be home at a time of peace but know they cannot be and they're grateful for the generosity they encounter. 

Loach is also careful not to casually demonise the people in the local community who are antagonistic towards them.

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The Charlies, Vics and Garrys of the film may behave appallingly at time but they are a product of a community that feels abandoned in post industrial Britain.

The closure of the local colliery has devastated their community and left them with nothing but poverty.

Trying to make sense of it all, they swallow the easy populist rhetoric of social media and lash out at easy targets like refugees.

What they say and do is wrong but it is too glib just to say so.

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Loach and his long time screenwriter Paul Laverty believe there is a kinder, better way and are determined to show it.

TJ embodies that kindness, with Turner turning in a delightful performance as a decent man nursing the wounds of someone who has watched his community wither and has seen his marriage also collapse.

Adoring a stray dog he adopted called Marra, he gets a new lease of life through his unexpected friendship with Yara who is beautifully played by Ebla Mari.

However Loach also extracts terrific performances from Rodgerson, Fox, McGlade and Louis to the point where The Old Oak pub itself becomes a visual metaphor for post-Brexit Britain.

© Studio Canal, BBC Films, Sixteen Films & Le Pacte

Sensitively edited by Jonathan Morris and unobtrusively shot by cinematographer Robbie Ryan, 'The Old Oak' ties together many of the previous themes in Loach's work.

There's the community spirit of 'Jimmy's Hall,' the desperate poverty of 'Raining Stones' and 'I, Daniel Blake,' the isolation of asylum seekers from 'Carla's Song' and the relationship with Marra is pure 'Kes'.

If 'The Old Oak' marks the final chapter in Loach's prodigious filmmaking career, it's one hell of a way to bow out.

Since the 1960s few directors have matched Loach's commitment to social justice, his constant challenging of the status quo and his passion for community and decency.

© Studio Canal, BBC Films, Sixteen Films & Le Pacte

It's been a remarkable career, with the director often getting a lot of flak for wearing his socialist heart on his sleeve and taking on issues most filmmakers have shied away from.

But he has left a wonderful legacy.

The question that begs now is: now that is Loach appears to be retiring, will anyone else take up his baton?

('The Old Oak' was released in UK and Irish cinemas on September 29, 2023)