The Old Oak

Ken Loach’s latest film, written by Paul Laverty, is a story of a small Northumbrian town that finds itself home to a group of refugees. TJ (Dave Turner) owns the local pub, The Old Oak, run down, struggling to survive like the community it serves. TJ also volunteers alongside Laura (Claire Rodgerson) to help house Syrian refugees in the local community. One of these is the family of Yara (Ebla Mari). She’s smart and a talented photographer and strikes up a friendship with TJ. He learns of her family, she learns of a community ravaged by the miners strike and in decline ever since. As they try to bring the community together, they face hostility but the communities slowly realise they have a lot in common.

The Old Oak shows Loach doing what he does best, shining a light on some of the hardest hit parts of society. It would have been easy to turn into a story of the uneducated, full of casual (and not so casual) racism, embittered by “foreigners” treated better than they are. But Loach is smarter than that. Instead he spends his time exploring why, why these put upon and forgotten communities react as they do. These are communities that have had industry, self respect and hope taken from them and in return find themselves as a “dumping ground” for those less fortunate. While the story can feel relentlessly grim, it is interspersed with hope, moments of sweetness and in the end it at least leaves us with a positive message.

The cast is broadly non-professional and while committed, performances are uneven, with the exception of Ebla Mari, who looks anything but a first time performer. That said the performances do add a realism to the storytelling which helps.

The Old Oak is a thoughtful and tough look at communities that have been abandoned. An often grim story, but one that ultimately delivers hope. This is the kind of story Loach brilliantly tells and while some will hate it, it should give the rest of us plenty to think about.