Ladybird

Kenneth Loach ,among all the great directors in the world,has always been one of the very few who depicts the "riff raff" ,to quote one of his works.In his universe, you will not find the young lawyer ,the yalie,the dynamic executive,the journalist with good prospects or the handsome detective with his gorgeous assistant.All his characters are individuals struggling against the authorities and who cannot win:the little boy from "kes",the young girl from 'family life",the two buddies on the dole from "looks and smiles",and the unfortunate mother from "ladybird ladybird". "Ladybird,ladybird" is a harsh movie,sometimes unbearable,definitely not for all tastes.Crissy Rock is absolutely astounding,she does not play the part,she really lives it,leaving us on the edge of our seat.Her screams,her tears,her anger are so real that,had Loach not said it was a true story,we would believe in it anyway.Loach's treatment is stripped of any embellishment.No need for strings when fate strikes once more the heroine.Her partner,an immigrant,is a good man who loves her sincerely ;he suffers because he feels helpless,and when she beats him,he does not complain:his despair is so deep he contemplates suicide.We are far from the immigrant macho cliché. The heroine must come from a poor social background,so she was never taught the rules of the game,so she is bound to fail.But Loach avoids to show us the people from the social services as "baddies":it's for her own good,they say.They reason by the establishment's rules,but they never try to communicate with the mother,deemed irresponsible,unable to get a place in the community.The end of the movie preserves the viewer from despair though.Every dog has his day,they say.May it be true for this poor couple!

I challenge any parent who has been questioned over the care of the children or any person who has been unjustly accused of neglect as I have have once been, to sit and watch this disturbing powerhouse of a film. I paused it twice during my original sitting and had to take a moment to deal with what I was being confronted with once again. Rarely . . . yes VERY RARELY does a film or a movie engage me to this point. I have seen several Ken Loach films and I live in admiration of this artist/man, but yet I wasn't prepared for what I sat and watched. I give this 10 out of 10 and am shocked that it hasn't been recognised further by any awards society such as "The Bafta" and "Academy Awards".

Chrissy Rock, I take my hat off to you to have the guts to give all that you gave for your performance, the the actor that played "Jorge" . . you have delivered a standout performance. Ken Loach, you are my hero.

Indeed I stand by my title, possibly the most powerful and disturbing film every made. Magnificent. Ambitious. It delivers.

Chrissy Rock gave an unforgettable performance in this little seen film. i highly recommend anyone to go out and rent it. another great but "little seen" film is "Once Were Warriors". my advice is if you go to the video store to rent a couple movies, and are interested in how movies should be made,search for these 2 titles,and you'll see your trip to the video store was well worth it!

This is a story about a British woman who struggles to keep her children. Ken Loach's movies are always good and they always deal with sad and gritty subjects. The thing that struck me most about this movie was that although I initially felt sympathy for the main character, Maggie, I quickly lost it. She's so upset she is completely uncooperative with the social services people, who are often judgmental and unlikeable, but who are only trying to do their jobs. When Maggie finds a lover who does not abuse her as her earlier partners did, she refuses to appreciate his steadfastness, his decency and his loyalty to her, and she tries to drive him away. I was surprised to find myself so unsympathetic to Maggie. My frustration with her grew, and I found myself saying, aloud, "God, she's impossible!" Even though I didn't like the character, the movie is so good, I could not tear my eyes away from it. Ken Loach is a genius. I think the hardest works are those with unsympathetic main characters. If you still find yourself fascinated, even though you find yourself detesting the protagonist in a movie, it makes the viewing even more memorable. I sometimes feel sad that I have no children; yet, when I see this story, I feel better about it. I also wonder why I cannot muster much sympathy for Maggie, even though I have things in common with the character. Society is especially unforgiving when dealing with parents. In its well-meaning interest in the welfare of the children, it often fails to reach out to the parents who are sometimes quite good people, but who are struggling to cope. Almost everyone could benefit from seeing this movie. It's highly instructive. It makes you think about the roles we, as adults, play in society, and what our responsibilities are. None of the questions and issues raised by this movie are easy to deal with. There are no easy answers. I think both great objectivity and subjectivity are necessary toward finding solutions, and both are seldom possible at the same time; hence, mistakes are made, all around. The character of the good man she finally finds is beautifully played by an unknown actor. I wondered how he could continue to be so good, and yet I felt myself completely frustrated with him and annoyed with him when he tried to explain his reasons for being a political exile from his country of origin in a court hearing. He was so upset that for once, he couldn't think clearly and couldn't express himself adequately. This showed me that despite his "good" qualities, under extreme pressure, he could be as hard to understand and to help as Maggie is. This movie is based on a true story, which is, sadly, not hard to believe. This same type of situation is played out again and again. What to do? Leave children in questionable households, or take them away? Try to see this movie and to share it with someone who is troubled, who has been abused, and who has had problems dealing with administrations of almost any kind. It's very instructive, even though, as I've said, no answers are given.

I've seen this film twice now,and although it can be argued that the character of Maggie is as much a victim of the system as her children,it's just really difficult to feel sorry for her.We have here a woman who has 5 children by 5 different fathers,continually makes bad choices in men and continues her cycle of abuse,has one son almost die in a tragic accident that is a direct result of her leaving them alone,and then can't understand why Social Services can't just stay out of her life and let her raise the rest of her children.The performances are top-notch here,but Maggie is more to be pitied for her lack of responsible behavior than anything else.