The Old Oak

After I, Daniel Blake (2016) and Sorry We Missed You (2019), Ken Loach once again sets his camera in the north-east of England for a resolutely less dramatic film. In his own words, he wanted to evoke the generosity of some of the people he met there: "One of the starting points was the reality of a region that has been abandoned. Industrial activity – shipbuilding, steelmaking, mining – had disappeared and little or nothing had replaced it. Most of the mining villages, once prosperous and proud of their traditions of solidarity, have been abandoned by politicians. (...) Worryingly, the far right has become stronger. Local authorities in wealthier areas transferred vulnerable and disadvantaged residents – deemed to be ‘problem people’ (...). Then the government finally agreed to take in refugees fleeing the war in Syria." Ken Loach explained: ‘We took in fewer than most European countries, but we had to find them a home. Again, it was no surprise that the North East took in more than any other region. (...) There were two communities living next to each other, suffering from serious problems, but one of which had suffered a trauma and was mourning its dead and worrying about those left behind. They were strangers in an unknown land. Could these two communities live together? (...) The answers are inevitably contradictory. In such dark times, how do you find hope? It was a difficult question and Paul, Rebecca and I thought we should look for an answer."