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Belltable | Monday, January 9th, 2017 | €8
When Ken Loach won the Palme d’Or for I, Daniel Blake he joined an elite pantheon of directors who have been awarded the Cannes Film Festival’s top prize on two occasions, a fitting tribute for a film that feels like a summation of the great man’s tireless advocacy for the underdog.
The scenario is pure Loach: carpenter Daniel Blake (Dave Johns) is convalescing from a mild heart attack, but finds himself in the paradoxical position of not being ill enough to claim benefits. He is the quintessential little man caught in the gears of a bureaucratic, Kafkaesque health system. Though not without humour, I Daniel Blake simmers with quiet outrage for the petty injustices meted out to the most vulnerable members of society.
Simon McGuire 