The arrival of Syrian refugees in a depressed Northern mining town triggers the anger of locals, who grumble about the situation at the Old Oak pub. Landlord TJ finds himself torn between old friends and newcomers. That’s the gist of the latest effort from Ken Loach, now in his fifth decade of filmmaking, and once again streamlining entertainment and polemics into a satisfying whole. In recent years, Loach and screenwriter Paul Laverty have zoomed in on whatever new form of immiseration is being visited upon Britain’s working class—2019’s Sorry We Missed You took a hammer to the gig economy—so it’s significant that The Old Oak takes us back to 2016, prior to events that have atomized the UK’s old growth Left and plunged it into disarray. Meanwhile Loach is threatening that he might retire. That would be a loss. The Old Oak has its faults, for one thing repeating an unfortunate falsehood about the Syrian conflict, but its sensitivity towards all of its characters, including the apparent bigots, who are allowed a measure of self-awareness and shame, is what makes Loach so vital. As one character says of the situation, “If you say anything about it, all the posh wankers make you out to be racist,” and he isn’t exactly wrong.

Stir, September 2016