Sorry We Missed You
Ken Loach’s latest film, Sorry We Missed You, which again deals with the gritty social realism of being ‘working class’ in England is a biting commentary on the power of franchise operators. With tentacles spread far and wide in England and indeed all over the world, working people are finding themselves trapped and indebted to companies that have promised them a way out of employment insecurity, by offering them a chance to run their own businesses, albeit, under a franchise banner. Ricky Turner finds himself caught up in a web of steel when he decides to buy a van, in instalments, and deliver parcels for one of these shrewd operators. What seems to be a way out of his previous troubles turns out to be a way into the misery of financial ruin.
His wife, Abbey, who is a carer/nurse, who had to sell the family car so that her husband could buy the van, cannot get to her appointments on time, his son Seb runs amok with a spray can and his sensitive young daughter, Liza Jane, steals the keys to her dad’s van so he can spend more time with the family. Ricky needs time. Something, Maloney, head of the delivery company and self-appointed ‘Saint Of Nasty Bastards,’ refuses to give him without monetary penalties.
Though Loach’s film deals with such grim issues it reinforces the importance of the family union and need for kindness. This is also a film about caring and certainly a film that will make you think.
★★★★★
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Reviewed by Renee Louise Dallow
