The Old Oak
Ken Loach lays on the misery again but with an unconvincing resolution.
Being human: Ebla Mari and Dave Turner
As the mainstream media cherry-picks which items it deems sexy or newsworthy, Ken Loach continues to deliver stories that are relevant and uncomfortable. That is, the stories of human beings trapped in the aftermath of the headlines. Although Ken Loach is now 87, there are enough topics of social malaise for him to pick over to keep him directing into his 100s. And The Old Oak arrives nine years after he announced his retirement. Here, he turns his attention to racism, immigration and poverty (an old favourite), opting to set the film in County Durham, to perpetuate his “grim up north” mantra.
The Old Oak is the last pub standing in “the village”, where every other public space has been closed down. It is the only place left where the close-knit locals can air their grievances over a pint or several, which is how they choose to spend what little money they have. Their custom is the business of T.J. Ballantyne (Dave Turner), the pub landlord, who does not share many of their one-sided views. The Oak has fallen on hard times, the back room has been closed up for security reasons and T.J. is struggling to make ends meet. The cost-of-living crisis has hit the north particularly hard and the glory days of failsafe employment down pit are long gone. But T.J. has more than his financial woes to keep him up nights. He is estranged from his own family, his son won’t talk to him and he only has a small dog to keep him company, a dog that once saved his life. Then, when a family of Syrian refugees moves into the neighbourhood, he offers to help Yara (Ebla Mari) have her camera fixed, which has been smashed by a local racist…
Even before the opening scene we hear the xenophobic taunts that greet the traumatised immigrants, played over a montage of Yara’s evocative black-and-white photographs. And then, in full colour, we witness the bleak world into which Yara’s family has been dumped, not so much a home from home as a hell from hell. As we learn more of the Syrians’ suffering in West Asia, so the violence and hate speech they encounter in England is ramped up, making one ashamed to be British. Of course, Brexit didn’t help anyone, although this is set in 2016.
At times, Ken Loach’s films can feel didactic, with a Greek chorus expressing their discontent, and there’s some of that here. However, Paul Laverty’s screenplay supplies us with two empathetic characters who, in spite of their differences, make a connection over an improbable divide. As usual with Loach, he is showing us human beings in crisis, who so often have only themselves to clutch to in order to stay afloat. T.J. knows what loss feels like and cannot help himself wanting to help others. There are also some telling scenes that distinguish The Old Oak from some of the director’s lesser films. In one, Yara is overwhelmed by the imposing grandeur of Durham Cathedral (during choir practice), and she itemises the vision, dedication and sweat that must have gone into realising such a monument. Then she talks of the monuments of her own country, millennia-old testaments to mankind’s capacity, now demolished to dust by Isis. The other scene that lingers is when Yara goes to help a girl who has collapsed from a glucose deficiency, takes her home and then searches the girl’s kitchen cupboards and fridge, only to find that they are virtually empty. It pre-empts the sentiment of another local who later declares that “charity starts at home.” We are all in need.
Here, hope is a word described as “obscene” but it is a sentiment that Loach clings to in the face of insurmountable odds, obstacles including hate crime, sabotage, lies, betrayal, bully XL dogs and corrupt governments. If this is the director’s last film, as has been mooted, he exits stage left with a glimmer of optimism, even if it doesn’t sit naturally within the confines of the film. And the title, too, offers a scintilla of hope, the tree being a symbol of English fortitude and durability.
JAMES CAMERON-WILSON
Cast: Dave Turner, Ebla Mari, Claire Rodgerson, Trevor Fox, Chris McGlade, Col Tait, Jordan Louis, Chrissie Robinson, Chris Gotts, Jen Patterson, Arthur Oxley, Debbie Honeywood.
Dir Ken Loach, Pro Rebecca O'Brien, Screenplay Paul Laverty, Ph Robbie Ryan, Pro Des Fergus Clegg, Ed Jonathan Morris, Music George Fenton, Costumes Jo Slater.
Sixteen Films/Why Not Productions/Les Films du Fleuve/BBC Film-StudioCanal.
113 mins. UK/France/Belgium. 2023. UK Rel: 29 September 2023. Cert. 15.
