This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labour of the writers and actors currently on strike, the movie being covered here wouldn't exist.
There is no way to discuss Ken Loach films without discussing their politics — this is a man who had previously retired following his 2014 film Jimmy's Hall before returning to filmmaking after the Conservative party win in 2015. Since then he has created a thematic trilogy of films that has sought to shine a light on issues exacerbated by that government. His first, 2016's Palme d'Or winner I, Daniel Blake looked at the quagmire that people in need of financial support from the state face. The second, Sorry We Missed You, addressed zero hour contracts and the difficulties self-employed delivery drivers face. Given Loach is now 87 it's likely that The Old Oak, his third since returning to directing, is his final film as a director.
The Old Oak is set in a small village in County Durham in 2016 where money is tight, everything is closing and local pub The Old Oak is hanging on by a thread. The Government begin moving Syrian refugees into the town, causing some locals to offer a helping community-centric hand while others bridle at the new arrivals. It would be easy to dismiss this film as soap boxing, but Loach and his screenwriter Paul Laverty are too intelligent to simply do that. This is not a story of white people being awful to non-white foreigners, but instead a look at community and survival.
Dave Turner is suitably naturalistic as pub landlord TJ Ballantyne who strikes up a friendship with a new arrival and budding photographer Yara (Ebla Mari), while being encouraged by local volunteer Laura (Claire Rodgerson) to do more. Turner and Mari both appear to be new to film acting, and Loach's desire for ultra-realism sometimes undoes the film's dramatic tension. No one is bad per se but unlike Dave Johns and Hayley Squires in I, Daniel Blake, it's hard to invest emotionally when some of the delivery is a little stilted.

What Loach does is to draw a direct parallel between the economic hardship small towns face at the hands of the Conservative party and the Mining strikes of the 80s. Both saw people hungry, and angry, after years of indifference from those in power. The film also suggests that Syrian refugees are used as scapegoats, placed into poor areas so that British people, angry and looking for someone to blame, point the finger at them instead of those in power.
It's clear what the film is saying — more unites us than separates us — and despite what the red-faced rabble of GB News would have you believe, people of different cultures do enrich us. Loach is too intelligent a man, and filmmaker, to make this simple. A scene in which a young refugee girl is given a second-hand bike, leaving the local boys lamenting for their own bikes, make it perfectly clear that much more could be done for everyone. Though Loach's commitment to realism leaves the film feeling a little unfinished narratively and doesn't entirely answer all the questions it raises, what it does do is offer a very clear answer to a very complex situation — community.
If this is to be Loach's last film, then it's a fine one to end with, utilising his recognisable brand of kitchen-sink realism on subjects that are ignored by the mass media. It's far from his best, but it's a timely reminder that the British film industry has neglected the working class far too much, and that in these austere times, both British and foreign communities should extend welcoming hands.
The Old Oak is released in cinemas on September 29th