It's a Free World...

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.

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.

STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning

Angie (Kierston Waring) is fired from her job after not taking any cr*p off her boss who pinches her bum in public. Understandably riled, she decides to play him at his own game and set up her own recruitment agency (the job she was fired from in the first place) and dole out jobs for immigrant workers who will work below the minimum wage. However, she soon learns in this cut throat game the people at the top control everything and when she finds herself unable to pay her 'staff', things get nasty. Angie is driven to become more ruthless and mercenary as the stakes get higher.

I must confess I don't think I've seen a Ken Loach film before, but his style is hard to deny. Despite his work getting him noticed in Hollywood, his love for depicting British social realism has kept him firmly grounded on this side of the pond and by the looks of things, that's that with him.

Though not telling a true story, this is similar to Nick Broomfield's docu-drama Ghosts with it's themes of cheap immigrant workers keeping our economy flowing and the sh*tty deal they are dealt, coming here thinking Britain is the land of prosperity only to find themselves in a situation not much better than if they'd stayed at home. Pretty depressing stuff but then, that's what we do best and that's the way things are. This is a film full of characters to feel sorry for, trapped in a system that makes them all go over the edge, from Angie who has a soft, caring side that allows her to take an Iranian family under her roof after discovering them living in poverty to a need to succeed that sees her reporting a rival camp of illegal workers so she can move her own in to, of course, the workers with a genuine desire to work and contribute something who end up going through all that cr*p for peanuts.

The relentlessly grim tone doesn't make for a top viewing experience then, but this is still a relevant and interesting story that serves as great food for thought. ***

When single mother Angie is fired from her job at an employment agency, she teams up with flat-mate Rose, and they venture into London's black market economy. They supply illegal immigrant labor to sweatshops and construction projects, before expanding into providing accommodation for her workers at exploitative rents. When Rose starts feeling queasy about the amorality of their schemes, Angie bamboozles her with empty promises of improved behavior in the future.

Writer Paul Laverty creates a credible and complex character, as his protagonist ruthlessly exploits society's victims, but later surrenders to a compassionate impulse and helps a family of Iranian political refugees. Angie's life becomes a catalogue of broken relationships, betrayals and brushes with authority, until her back-alley empire eventually implodes. Her journey can be seen as a metaphor of Britain's colonial rapaciousness and its repercussions, when retribution arrives in the form of shadowy individuals seeking payback. The gritty story is complemented by an excellent cast, and a break-out performance from Kierston Wareing as Angie. Needless to say, Ken Loach navigates through this seedy netherworld with his customary skill, but it's a rough ride through a bleak landscape.

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.