Versus: The Life and Films of Ken Loach

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.

Versus: the life and films of Ken Loach. Currently on iplayer. Preaching to the converted as Loach is my favourite film-maker of all time. I'd have liked to have seen more about my favourite Loach films (My Name is Joe, The Wind that shakes the barley, Carla's Song etc, but this was more about the man and his way of channeling his left wing anger through film. 7 out of ten. Can't wait to see his Palm D'or winner I, Daniel Blake.

STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning

After the release of Jimmy's Hall in 2014, 80 year old left leaning director Ken Loach announced his retirement from filmmaking after a lifetime of social crusading. But then, in 2015, the Conservative Party had a surprise win in the General Elections, and he was galvanized into producing yet another slice of social realism, in the shape of the recently released I, Daniel Blake, a scathing indictment of the nations punitive welfare system, which enjoyed more of a greater reception from the public than might have been imagined. On the back of this, director Louise Osmond charts the course of his career, from his ground breaking plays on the BBC in the 60's that shone a light on working class life that hadn't been seen before, and onto a lifetime of gritty social dramas by a man who was never sucked in by the lure of Hollywood.

Ken Loach may not make much of an impression physically. As one of the talking heads in this film notes, even in his younger days, he looked like your average bank clerk than anyone of any great stature, while today in his 80s, he looks like he could get knocked over by a feather. But in spirit, he's an almighty oak. Ever since his heyday, it's hard to imagine a contender who's come along and tried to shine a light on gritty, no holds barred social realism in a way that this guy has, even with the very real, frightening societal problems that we are facing today. Or one who would refuse to sell out his principles in quite the way he has. And so, he's a fascinating subject to make a film about, and this is a timely and relevant project.

This Nuneaton boy had a Conservative father who was quite a big face where he worked, and they even went on holiday to the 'posh end' of Blackpool, if such a thing could be imagined. But what spurred Loach on to his career in films was to champion the plight of the faceless working class, at a time when the BBC was dominated by costume dramas depicting those at the top of the ladder in times long gone by. Doing this earned him some recognition and in the early 70's, lead to him making probably his most well known, commercially successful film Kes (originally titled Kestrel for a Knave!) But this was also the time when he suffered a terrible personal tragedy, losing a son in a car accident. At the time of Thatcher's reign, he made some films depicting the plight of the miners that no one was willing to transmit because of the political slant, and he even found himself directing a McDonald's commercial at one point!

Osmond has crafted a pleasingly personal account of this most quietly forceful of men which includes most of his notable (and not so notable!) works and explores them in some depth. ****