Versus: The Life and Films of Ken Loach

Dir: Louise Osmond

2016

****

Louise Osmond's documentary is a brief but concise look at the life and career of Ken Loach which explores both sides of the political director and also throws up a few surprises that I, a huge fan of his, didn't even know. The documentary doesn't use any sort of trickery, it's not formulaic as it isn't linear but it is uncomplicated and has a good structure based on theme rather than chronological order. The 'versus' in the title is suggestive of the battle Loach has had against the establishment, government, Media, the BBC and distributors etc. but also the battle he has had with himself. Loach is softly spoken, polite and very approachable but he is always direct and doesn't mince his words. He can be brutally honest at times and says what he feels without sugar-coating a single word. To be fair, he is also very critical of his own work, indeed, one of the most humble moments in the film was where he admitted he sold out in order to feed his family by directing TV adverts, one of them being for McDonalds. He still isn't very happy about it. Gabriel Byrne, who stared in Loach's infamous play Perdition, describes the director rather well in comparing knights during lancing battles, saying that "he's the kind of knight who dislodges the other rider with his lance and then stands gently and respectfully on them a he pushes back a small opening in their armour and slits a vein and watches them bleed to death". Maybe a little harsh but he is known for ripping people to shreds with his words. The thing is, all Loach has ever done, in an articulate and lowered voice, is ask people to justify their words and their actions. It is only when their words and actions aren't justifiable do they suffer. So it really isn't any surprise that the establishment have never really liked him, although now in 2016 all those that made him suffer during his career champion him as one of the country’s greatest film makers, such is the fickle manner of our media. Loach however has a long memory and time doesn't always necessarily heal old wounds and there is something quite refreshing about how he talks about such things. When history is continually repeating itself, you really need someone like Loach to point out that this cycle of ignorance is really getting us no-where. In 2014 Loach announced his retirement, in 2015 the Tory government got back into power, somehow, and Loach quickly came out of retirement and set about making another film, realising that actually, he's the only British director working today that can and will stand up to the atrocities effecting life in the UK and who tells it how it is. It's tragic that there doesn't seem to be a successor. For Ken Loach I am thankful, he's a legend, unappreciated by many of the people he makes films for. My only criticism is that I wanted more.