It's a Free World

I often feel like giving a film a ten somehow weakens the review and arguments but in my humble opinion this latest work from Ken Loach is absolutely spot on! The element I applaud the most is its nuances and subtlety. Nothing is black and white, the characters are complex and display at times total disregard for humanity and at others touching empathy, thereby making a stronger point of the complexity of the situation at hand. The plot is relatively simple, but small exchanges between the characters that seem irrelevant bring a great deal of humanity to the film. Kierston Wavering is absolutely magnificent as Angie and every single other "actor" (professional or not) featured is spot on. A moving, honest, brave yet depressing masterpiece!

In It's a Free World…. Ken Loach demonstrates his continuing commitment to casting his critical, earthy, though engaging eye on present day issues affecting British society, issues that are usually neglected by mainstream British cinema.

These issues arise from the grey area that is the cheap foreign labour market in the UK. Loach explores the exploitation of cheap immigrant labour in East London with the insight, fluidity, humour and sensitivity that I have come to expect of him. He encourages the viewer to reflect on the lives of thousands upon thousands of immigrants from diverse countries and societies who are crassly lumped together, dehumanized and simplified, lives that most native Londoners take for granted.

Though impartiality has never been one of Loach's strong points, It's A Free World…. is refreshing in that it does not demonize the Brits who exploit foreign labour. Nor does it look for easy answers to the problems of immigration. Rather it has an understanding of the lure of easy money for British people with few options in life themselves. The film suggests that the larger culpability might lie with governing institutions that have lost control of the situation, and so have freed up the conditions for exploitation. Also, the message of the film seems to extend to most of us, being British citizens, as we daily and casually project our own sense of individual freedom onto the wider world around us. But for newer people, living precariously in our midst, the same world is far from a free one.

It may be argued that Loach's main aim with the film has therefore been achieved. However, on the negative side, It's A Free World's characterization and plot feels contrived. This is particularly true of the main character, Angie. It may not be a free world for many, but it certainly can be a strange world, and I am sure a single mum and biker babe who happens to be a redundant recruitment consultant could start up her own illegal recruitment agency. However, such a quirky character sits oddly with Loach's down-to-earth, everyday approach, which would make Angie look contrived and unbelievable if the non-professional actor in her first role, Kierston Wareing, did not play her so brilliantly, finding the humanity in her character so well.

Certain clichéd characters add to the film feeling contrived. This includes not only the censorious old boy who is Angies' father, which must now surely be a cliché of left-wing films, and Angie's casual boyfriend, a handsome, almost-angelic, two-dimensional Pole (written this way presumably to counter the gutter press' jaundiced cliché of a male immigrant, but such a two-dimensional character does not serve the film). This relationship feels laboured because it only exists to conveniently, and all-too-obviously, personalize the main character's external dilemma.

Still, It's A Free World is an engaging and enlightening film, even if it feels contrived.

First of all, I think this film quite rightly got the plug it deserved on all of the Broadsheets in the UK. This might be partly due to the involvement of Ken Loach himself but also because it is a rather poignant essay of the one crucial aspect of globalisation – the richer countries exploiting the availability of the cheap labour available from the poorer countries.

This is not the first of its kind to be done, but this film had sympathy, warmth, objectivity and class and a viable plot. The whole film, however, is carried by Kierston Wareing, with no real development of other characters such as her business partner or even her dad, who both could have highlighted the different shades of the argument and perhaps externalised some of the conflicts that we all face when we encounter the by-products of such exploitation. By this, I mean the cheap strawberries in the supermarkets, casual builders, the "baristas" working behind the various Coffee chains and basically all of the other unsung victims who go to subsidising every aspect of our material life.

The basic kernel of the film does succeed to some extent in showing the different facets of the human character such as sympathy for the individual versus the indifference to the abstracted group; highlighting the similarities in the trials and tribulations of people in both the 'host' and the 'donor' countries; the fact that a lot of people are up for making a quick buck off the suffering of others; and that people exist who will try and be fair to others regardless of their backgrounds.

However, the reality might not be so clear cut and easily digestible. Perhaps not all of the immigrant workers are so docile and placid; perhaps not all immigrant workers are so subservient and accepting when the roles are reversed and the female becomes the sexual predator; perhaps not all immigrant workers insist on "passing on the favour instead of returning it".

While it is a noble effort and some effort has been made to highlight the plight of such immigrants, it is still just a snapshot of a much more knotty problem – a problem that we are all, to some extent, responsible for.

That said, "Bravo" to the fantastic Mr. Loach for agreeing to get his "hands dirty" with such a current and contentious subject.

Winner of the award for Best Screenplay at the Venice Film Festival, It's a Free World, the seventh collaboration between director Ken Loach and writer Paul Laverty, is a compelling look at the recruitment and exploitation of European undocumented workers, a subject touched upon recently in Stephen Frears' Dirty Pretty Things. As in many of Loach's earlier films, It's a Free World has a strong feeling for those who live on the margins in a society that does not care and, uncharacteristically for Loach, is surprisingly even-handed, showing the viewpoint of both the victim and the victimizer.

The film begins in Poland as a group of recruits gather around the CoreForce Recruitment Agency, willing to pay money for the right to work in the U.K. Given temporary visas, they manage to land jobs in construction, factory work, or farm labor at minimum wage without any trace of benefits or job security. When Angie (Kierston Wareing), a thirty-three year-old working class recruiter from London is fired for complaining about sexual harassment on the job, she joins with her roommate Rose (Juliet Ellis) in building her own agency in the U.K., matching immigrants from Eastern Europe with employers in London. Riding around on her motorbike, she interviews prospective employers and locates temporary shelters for her workers who must pay extra for the housing.

At the outset, conscious of the law and of her integrity, Angie establishes the rule that she will not provide employment to undocumented workers. Much to Rose's chagrin, Angie soon bends these rules and slowly begins to lose her moral compass, joining the competition in the recruiting and exploiting of illegal immigrants. Though she shows compassion in supporting an Iranian refugee who is desperately looking for work, she later calls the Immigration Department to arrest illegal workers who are living in housing provided by a competitor. Angie's change may be prompted by the reminder of her need to provide for her eleven-year-old son Jamie (Joe Siffleet) who has been living with her parents and has developed a proclivity to break other students' jaws at school.

Her father Geoff (Colin Caughlin) visits and tries to be encouraging about her new business but his stance is simple: immigrants have brought their troubles onto themselves and should not take up any of our concerns. When Angie justifies her actions by saying that if the workers didn't want the jobs, they wouldn't show up, it is reminiscent of politicians who blame the media for their moral and spiritual retreats. The issues crystallize when a friendly construction foreman is ripped off and Angie is unable to pay her workers, leading to a physical assaulted and a threat against Jamie by the angry workers.

In her first feature film performance, Kierston Wareing shows great promise as the blonde, leather-jacketed, motorcycle-riding entrepreneur who is willing to deal with the sleazier aspects of the business. With the knowledge that decades of public policy have led to this situation, however, Loach does not single her out as the only culprit, simply one who is unable to look beyond a value system that can only see what is in their immediate material self interest. Though It's a Free World is far less impactful than some of the earlier Loach-Laverty collaborations, it is a strong film that does not pull its punches and did not deserve a one-day U.K. opening and a direct-to-DVD treatment.

This film captures perfectly one of the many faults of capitalism, it portrays an extremely sad situation of the desperate struggle that some people have everyday to earn money. In this case it follows the exploitation of foreign workers who came to England (London) in desperate search of work, and the lengths they will go earn money. The central character (Angie) played by Kierston Wareing is a self employed recruitment agent an ambitious and vibrant women who wont take no for an answer, she has a certain cheek and charm that is compelling and shows us some level of kindness, but also has a darker side which she has no problems in showing to people. Her friend and flatmate (Rose) played by Juliet Ellis is portrayed as the more rational minded and frankly kinder person, who relapses that sometimes it's not always about the money. An inevitable twist of faith comes for Angie where she is put in the position of victim, but does this change her views on life?

It is very well directed, showing the viewer the dull and bleak industrial estates and caravan parks of London which really suits the story and the depressive feel of the script.

Ken Loach and Paul Laverty done a great job with this film and like most of Loachs films is a striking and damning account of the depression to be found in working class England.