| Ken
Loach's latest film is another so-realistic-it-hurts-terribly
exposé set in grimmest Glasgow.
In
the tradition of Riff Raff, Stella Does Tricks, Nil
By Mouth and a host of other British films, it presents
the modern-day underdogs of the UK with all the attendant
problems of unemployment, loneliness, yearning, dysfunction,
hopelessness, drug abuse, thuggery and attempts, usually
futile, to lift themselves out of the doldrums.
How
many in-your-face life-as-it-really-is films can one
person take? Especially a person embroiled in his
or her own drama of drug abuse in the family.
Do
not see this film if you are feeling vulnerable. As
a form of entertainment forget it. See The Fully Monty
or Brassed Off instead. Or even flummery like Notting
Hill.
As
an artistic work, My Name is Joe is up there
with the best. Joe is an unemployed recovering alcoholic
played with truth and appeal by Peter Mullan, equally
matched by the love interest Sarah, the district nurse,
beautifully acted by Louise Gooddall. The love story
is tender and fragile, showing the softer side of
Joe contrasting his bossy, loud persona as coach of
a losing football team. The team is his family and
he cares too much for his family members' well-being
which leaves his weakness wide open for exploitation.
The
touching moments, the natural Scottish humour and
wry cynicism counterpoint the bleakness and no-win
situations of the central characters. The camera work
is intimate and unflinching, showing us the grimy
established neighbourhood, fertile ground for affection,
loyalty and bonding as well as the criminal underworld.
Ken Loach has championed the cause of the oppressed
once again in a remarkable artistic work. The stories
of these people must be told again and again until
the movers and shakers of this world recognise what
the films are trying to tell them, instead of seeing
the plight of the underclass on celluloid as a form
of entertainment.
My
Name is Joe is pure documentation of real people's
struggles.
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