I Daniel Blake
25/07/17 Filed in: Amazon Prime
I didn't get to see this film at the cinema when it was released but it has recently been added to the Amazon Prime collection and I watched it yesterday evening. It was well publicised at the time of its release so I already had a fair idea of what it was about, but in actually viewing it I was still shocked at the portrayal of the current state of Britain's social welfare system. I accept it's a story and not a documentary, but reaction to the film when it was released, from those who had experienced the system, was overwhelmingly supportive of the fact that it was telling things very much as they are.
Daniel Blake is a 59-year-old joiner in Newcastle who is recovering from a heart attack. His cardiologist has told him that he isn't yet fit enough to return to work even though he would like to do so. Despite this, having undergone a 'work capability assessment' by a woman who is clearly reading from a script and has, it would appear, little medical expertise, he is deemed to be fit for work. Because of this he is denied unemployment support allowance and must instead apply for jobseekers allowance. He tries to explain that he has been told by his doctor that he can't work, but the bureaucratic machine is now in full swing and if he doesn't comply he will be sanctioned, which means he'll get nothing. He's given no choice other than to go to a presentation on how to produce a CV.
Daniel has already hit another set of buffers in trying to fill out an online form to appeal against his capability assessment. He knows nothing about computers as is comically shown when he tries to literally move the mouse over the screen while receiving assistance. He is frustrated time and time again trying to complete this form, and when what appears to be the only woman with a heart at the job centre steps in to help him, she is taken aside and disciplined. Talk about dystopian. So when at the CV presentation he is told about producing a video as part of his CV package, you can imagine his reaction. He ends up writing it in pencil.
Daniel isn't the only victim of this nightmare. Katie, a young unmarried mother with two children, has been moved from temporary accommodation in London to Newcastle. She soon also runs foul of the 'system' and when Daniel tries to intervene, both are escorted off the premises. From this a friendship develops, with 'Dan' offering what limited help he can. As a joiner he's handy around the house, which is useful in helping Katie patch up the property she's been given. Daniel is widowed and didn't have children, and it's clear that he is becoming a paternal figure for Katie. He accompanies her to a food bank, where in a heartbreaking scene Katie breaks open a tin of what appears to be soup and starts to drink it, because she's literally starving. She is immediately embarrassed by her actions but the people at the food bank are marvellous, in stark contrast to the authoritarian treatment she received at the job centre.
Daniel diligently touts his CV around local companies to comply with the terms of his jobseekers allowance obligations, but when he is next interviewed he is not believed. If he had sent emails, or applied online, it would of course have been recorded, but with his total lack of computer literacy he did the only thing he could, which just didn't cut any ice with the job centre. The final irony was when he was actually offered a job, only to have to decline it because of his medical condition. This was total humiliation.
As time goes on things become more desperate, only softened by his friendship with Katie and with China, his young coloured neighbour, who finally helps him complete the capability assessment appeal form online. But destitution beckons and a brush with the police follows after Daniel publicises his frustration with spray paint on the wall of the job centre. Meanwhile Katie has sunk to new depths in order to feed and clothe her children, this adding to Daniel's misery.
The appeal date is finally set and Daniel is accompanied by Katie. They are informed my his legal representative that it should be an open and shut case, but unfortunately fate has one more card to play.
This is a film that should have caused Conservative ministers sleepless nights, but regrettably I doubt it did anything of the sort. The then Tory welfare secretary Damian Green branded the film a “monstrously unfair” work of fiction, despite admitting he’d never seen it. And the Daily Mail didn't like it either - what a surprise.
Hearts of stone.
Daniel isn't the only victim of this nightmare. Katie, a young unmarried mother with two children, has been moved from temporary accommodation in London to Newcastle. She soon also runs foul of the 'system' and when Daniel tries to intervene, both are escorted off the premises. From this a friendship develops, with 'Dan' offering what limited help he can. As a joiner he's handy around the house, which is useful in helping Katie patch up the property she's been given. Daniel is widowed and didn't have children, and it's clear that he is becoming a paternal figure for Katie. He accompanies her to a food bank, where in a heartbreaking scene Katie breaks open a tin of what appears to be soup and starts to drink it, because she's literally starving. She is immediately embarrassed by her actions but the people at the food bank are marvellous, in stark contrast to the authoritarian treatment she received at the job centre.
Daniel diligently touts his CV around local companies to comply with the terms of his jobseekers allowance obligations, but when he is next interviewed he is not believed. If he had sent emails, or applied online, it would of course have been recorded, but with his total lack of computer literacy he did the only thing he could, which just didn't cut any ice with the job centre. The final irony was when he was actually offered a job, only to have to decline it because of his medical condition. This was total humiliation.
As time goes on things become more desperate, only softened by his friendship with Katie and with China, his young coloured neighbour, who finally helps him complete the capability assessment appeal form online. But destitution beckons and a brush with the police follows after Daniel publicises his frustration with spray paint on the wall of the job centre. Meanwhile Katie has sunk to new depths in order to feed and clothe her children, this adding to Daniel's misery.
The appeal date is finally set and Daniel is accompanied by Katie. They are informed my his legal representative that it should be an open and shut case, but unfortunately fate has one more card to play.
This is a film that should have caused Conservative ministers sleepless nights, but regrettably I doubt it did anything of the sort. The then Tory welfare secretary Damian Green branded the film a “monstrously unfair” work of fiction, despite admitting he’d never seen it. And the Daily Mail didn't like it either - what a surprise.
Hearts of stone.