Sorry We Missed You

I think it’s fair to say the UK is in a bit of turmoil right now, and it has been for some time. Ken Loach, director of Sorry We Missed You has depicted this turmoil to devastating accuracy in much of his previous work and therefore continues to do so with his latest story.
 
At the head of the Turner family is Ricky (Kris Hitchen), a general handyman who takes on a new job as a delivery driver for the courier PDF. It’s made clear by his boss on day one however that he doesn’t work for them, he works with them. So he doesn’t have the restrictions of set hours or restricted vacation days, but this is all a ruse to exploit Ricky and the numerous other drivers they’ve employed. If he doesn’t finish his scheduled route he doesn’t get paid, if he doesn’t deliver a parcel in the allocated time slot he gets fined, if he doesn’t buy his own van he’ll have to hire one at £65 a day. The list could go on, but it’s these little details that catch out so many working class labourers, having to work 14 hour days, six days a week all to keep a rented roof over their family’s heads.
 
It isn’t just Ricky who’s affected though; his wife Abbie (Debbie Honeywood) is on a zero-hour contract as a visiting carer. A job that keeps her working till nine o clock at night, instructing her to not get too close to the ‘clients’ that she visits. With Sorry We Missed You, Loach is painting a very real picture of how conglomerate businesses value these everyday people, as nothing but commodities. That your personal life can never diminish your work, no matter how dire the situation may be. They don’t value their employees; they’d rather have machines working these roles, believing that a wage is more than enough of an excuse to validate their working conditions.
 
There’s the occasional acknowledgement to the home-grown problems within this country, especially for this social demographic. But it’s this kind of authenticity that Loach shows so well, particularly when collaborating with screenwriter Paul Laverty. The odd bit of rivalry between football fans or a dinner table discussion of takeaway spices are the kind of moments that make you forget that although this family is heavily based on hundreds of true stories, they themselves are fictitious. Similar to before, Loach hires a bunch of unknown actors to further enhance the realism whilst also finding some diamonds in the rough. Hitchen and Honeywood are spectacular, their relationship and their coping mechanisms is what makes the film, but it’s the supporting cast that may end up not ranking this amongst Loach’s peak work. Some of the line delivery is shaky at times and this may be because Loach did find real people living these lives, but with some exchanges it feels like the complete opposite.
 
You’re unaware of where the film is going to go, it seems to try and differ from an ‘anti-capitalism’ movie and focus on a family drama but ends up cycling back round towards the end. It feels as if the causes and roots of all these problems rely on one specific character but a change of events makes it clear that this way of life is now very much a circle, a circle that that these characters can’t escape. It’s heart-breaking but it’s the truth. It’s not a film to enjoy with a soft drink and a large popcorn but it’s one of the most important movies of the year, demonstrating one of the many problems with how civilisation is run. It left me feeling angry, upset and wanting answers.
 
8/10