What is amazing about this film is how Loach manages to connect to the heart of contemporary British life and speak for the struggling ordinary people that are trying to get by in a system stacked against them. One wonders why young British filmmakers are not more interested in telling the stories of the people that define the country’s society and that so often go unheard in the loud and flashy media that seems to only be interested in Brexit and the latest high-jinks of the Tory party and Donald Trump.
Loach sets his latest social drama once again in the same Newcastle that his award winning I, Daniel Blake was set. The Newcastle is far from an over exposed location. While in I, Daniel Blake Loach looked at a elderly carpenter that the system left behind and who fell between the cracks in a dysfunctional welfare system, in Sorry We Missed You our hero Ricky Turner played by Kris Hitchen is a younger 40 something guy who is ready to pitch in and try to make it in the new so called “gig economy”.
Ricky is proud that he has never been on the dole despite being hit hard hard in the 2008 financial collapse and while the government bailed out banks that are now doing just fine ordinary people got lumbered with massive debts that no one was willing to write off or bail out. As a day labourer he is willing to turn his hand to anything and works as a gardener, plumber or any other job that comes along. Ricky has been struggling ever since but he is determined to make a go of his life no matter how difficult the economic situation.
He thinks he has an opportunity to wrestle back some independence appears with a shiny new van and the chance to run a franchise as a self-employed delivery driver. He is now ready to make it on his own as one of the new “gig economy” self employed. Needless to say there is no job security, paid holidays or pension in sight. All the risk and all the hard work are Ricky’s. Ricky’s wife has a job as a carer and this also has none of the benefits of the old fashioned regular employment.
Ricky thinks the answer to his dreams has arrive when he is interviewed for a “position” as a self-employed parcel delivery company. This company uses only contractors and offers Ricky the chance to be an owner- driver if he pays for the van and meets the targets of the company. Needless to say Ricky is plunged into a stress-ridden situation where his every more is monitored, he is fined for every delay and in the end he makes hardly any money.
But the focus of the film is on the damage the so called “gig economy” does to the traditional family. Ricky has a strong relationship with his wife, Abby played by Debbie Honeywood, who works taking care of old people. She has also joined the ranks of the non-pensioned, non-holiday non-benefits freelance workers. Loach shows us the psychological damage this kind of insecure and stressful situation has on people, their relationships and on society as a whole.
This is a riveting film that takes us into people’s lives and enlightens us about where society is going and why we need to care. Once again Loach has hit the target spot on speaking to today’s contemporary problems and and contemporary society. We can only hope someone listens.
Sorry We Missed You (UK/France/Belgium)
Directed by Ken Loach
Cast: Kris Hitchen, Debbie Honeywood, Rhys Stone, Katie Proctor, Ross Brewster
