I, Daniel Blake won
the Palme d'Or. And don't get me wrong, it's a solid movie. But by no means was
it the best. Ken Loach is a bleeding heart liberal and it shows with a fiery
passion for two hours straight. His contempt for British bureaucracy is meant
to get the viewer riled up. We feel intense anger and immense sadness for the
tragic situation that the honest heroes find themselves in, no fault of their
own. There is no subtlety. Loach is very straightforward, unabashedly wearing
his politics. And the film just keeps hitting you, tearing you further down
until you just want to give up. But Daniel Blake doesn't give up. He's a
working class hero (and Ken Loach a hero to the working class) and through all
the red tape he perseveres. He's extremely compassionate and likable and
relatable. There are some cringe-y scene transitions, with a cheesy fade to
black to show the passage of time. You see what Ken Loach really thinks about
computers, as Daniel Blake gets frustrated trying to figure out how to use it.
Though the film is
in English, the thick British accents are almost unintelligible. Funnily
enough, the film played with English subtitles. And I found myself reading them
to follow along. It is kind of ironic
that it won the Palme d'Or. Maybe the jury felt guilty, acknowledging the
plight of regular working people amidst all the glitz and glamor of the
exclusive Cannes Film Festival.
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