Ken Loach always has been a polemic filmmaker. He found his stride in the 1960s with the drama documentary, with social realism dramas such as Cathy Come Home.
In later life he made the best of lower budgets, non professional actors and still (according to the Daily Mail) subversive subjects to make acclaimed movies like Riff Raff.
Versus: The Life and Films of Ken Loach is a candid look back at Loach's career made at the time of the making of his latest movie I, Daniel Blake which went on to win the Palme D'Or and the 2016 Cannes Film Festival.
I was surprised to find out that Loach started out as an actor, he was once Kenneth Williams understudy. In fact would it had been brilliant if Loach had directed a Carry On film!
His television work at the BBC was groundbreaking with plays such as Up The Junction and Cathy Come Home which led to feature films such as Kes.
However the 1980s under Mrs Thatcher was a bleak time for him. Loach went on to make documentaries which the television companies deemed to be unbroadcastable. However in 1990 he made Hidden Agenda, a surprising effective political thriller which turned his fortunes around and he was back to making movies again.
Loach announced his retirement a few years ago from directing but returned when the Conservatives won the 2015 elections and wanted to highlight their austerity agenda.
Loach is under-appreciated in the UK, as mentioned in this documentary he is more revered in continental Europe. He has won two Palme D'Or awards now.
His dislike of the Tories is clear, but politically Loach has been a bit of a political dinosaur for some years. A Corbynite lets say, an uncompromising man who in his latter years speaks only to the converted. His later films have not found a new audience and even to a lefty like me he looks out of sync with the modern age.
