I watched this film on the BBC recently and would thoroughly recommend it. It premiered in 2016 in Cannes, where it won the Palme d’Or award, but this was the first TV broadcast in the U.K. The film, directed by Ken Loach (Kes, the wind that shakes the barley etc) is about the scandal of Britain's benefits system. It is described on Amazon:
A couple of reviewers described the film as depicting their personal experiences of the system as "soul destroying and degrading and "the important part for me, is that none of this is exaggerated".
My girlfriend wept during it because she knew first hand after having worked for years in Citizens Advice (a network of independent charities throughout the UK that give free, confidential information and advice to assist people with money, legal problems etc) and specialising in benefits, that so many people become so frustrated by the system they fail to claim what they are legally entitled to and desperately need. There are always a small minority of people who will abuse the system (any system actually) which the mainstream media always seems to focus on and exaggerate of course.
One of my best friends went through the benefits 'appeal' process (or rather interrogation) and after months of relentless stress and not being able to speak to one real person, one 'decision maker' as they are called, it reduced this strong, caring and informed single mum to a nervous wreck. She had to leave her daughter (who has a life threatening heart condition) in hospital after an operation to attend this meeting and later confided to me that she was so fearful of the outcome that she actually soiled herself going into the room.
There is always a need to improve systems such as this, but as this film shows clearly - not at the expense of essentially dehumanising people.
Ken Loach directs this drama that follows a 59-year-old joiner as he tries to navigate the British benefits system. In the North-East of England, widower Daniel Blake (Dave Johns) is forced to stop working when he is taken ill with heart disease and so applies for Employment and Support Allowance from the Government. But his life is further thrown into disarray when his benefits are suddenly taken away from him and he is forced to jump through the many hoops of the bureaucratic system to get them back. During this time, he meets the similarly-troubled single mother Katie (Hayley Squires) whose financial problems mean she is being forced out of her home in London along with her two kids Dylan and Daisy (Dylan McKiernan and Briana Shann). The film was nominated for five BAFTAs including Best Film, Best Director (Loach), Best Original Screenplay and Best Supporting Actress (Squires) and won the award for Outstanding British Film of the Year.
A couple of reviewers described the film as depicting their personal experiences of the system as "soul destroying and degrading and "the important part for me, is that none of this is exaggerated".
My girlfriend wept during it because she knew first hand after having worked for years in Citizens Advice (a network of independent charities throughout the UK that give free, confidential information and advice to assist people with money, legal problems etc) and specialising in benefits, that so many people become so frustrated by the system they fail to claim what they are legally entitled to and desperately need. There are always a small minority of people who will abuse the system (any system actually) which the mainstream media always seems to focus on and exaggerate of course.
One of my best friends went through the benefits 'appeal' process (or rather interrogation) and after months of relentless stress and not being able to speak to one real person, one 'decision maker' as they are called, it reduced this strong, caring and informed single mum to a nervous wreck. She had to leave her daughter (who has a life threatening heart condition) in hospital after an operation to attend this meeting and later confided to me that she was so fearful of the outcome that she actually soiled herself going into the room.
There is always a need to improve systems such as this, but as this film shows clearly - not at the expense of essentially dehumanising people.