A personal reflection on Ken Loach film The Old Oak

The Old Oak Directed by Ken Loach 2023

I am not a film critic. Even if I was, I would not be in a good position to offer an objective viewpoint on this film. A number of us involved in Tyne and Wear Citizens met with Ken Loach's long term collaborator and script writer Paul Laverty, as he was wondering if they could make into a trilogy, of films set in the North-East of England. Films that brought into the open, grave injustices and unheard human misery, following on from their examinations of the dehumanising processes that lie at the heart of applying for welfare benefits in 'I, Daniel Blake' and the cost and the loss of humanity caused by the gig-economy and low pay in 'Sorry We Missed You'.

Having met Paul, I am aware he is an attentive listener with his creative mind always looking for a story that reveals uncovered trauma and tragedy, but showing the worst and best in humanity in responding to these often-unspoken realities.

It was listening to members of an Anglican parish in County Durham, how they related - how Syrian Refugees tried to make a new life in communities that had never recovered from the closing of the mines - how tensions existed between them, even though both groups were victims of grave structural injustice and violence. This narrative gave Paul the kernel of an idea that eventually flourished into The Old Oak, released on September 29th.

The film was recorded last summer and is set in the summer of 2016, which is of course the summer of the Brexit Referendum. Brexit is never mentioned but it still sets a context.

The film has many of the Ken Loach traits we are used to seeing. He uses local people, including some of my colleagues on the leadership group of Tyne and Wear Citizens. Many of the Syrians in the film are actual refugees who had to escape their homeland. Filmed on location in County Durham, the raw urban decay and sense of impoverishment that these communities still experience is brutally but not gratuitously laid bare.

Such urban decay is highlighted in the Old Oak pub, the only pub, and indeed public space, left in this nameless but typical ex-Durham mining village. The landlord, TJ Ballantyne (Dave Turner) is desperately hanging on to the pub, which is looking very sad, a ghost of its glory days when the community was thriving and standing together during the miners' strike.

I will try not to give too much away of the plot but in a chance of meeting of young Syrian woman, Yara (Ebla Mari) with a passion for photography, we have a beginning of a thread which explores how two alienated groups can discover a shared humanity and a common acknowledgment of human dignity, though forces that seek to maintain the division and mistrust are never far away. I know some have commented on the strong language and whether that just reinforces lazy stereotypes of the north-east. I am informed that the accents are more Tyneside than County Durham but the film for me does make an important statement of essential values that are relevant for society and the Church.

The first set of values is how vital and affective solidarity, gestures of hospitality and genuine empathy and compassion are in discovering a shared humanity and transcending differences. Yara states that a friend told her that 'hope is obscene' and yet in broken communities the film shows that hope can be a tender plant if these values can allow human relationships in different and alienated groups to develop and grow.

The second lesson is the desperate need for shared spaces for such human encounters of difference to take place. We are told in the film that now the local church hall recently closed, so there are no available public spaces for people to meet. The hub of the main story line is how landlord faces rival claims to re-open a once well-used meeting room that has become dilapidated and a health and safety hazard.

It is challenging to Catholic communities as to how we make use of such spaces we own. Are they used for such encounters or just meetings of the 'Catholic tribe'?

Of course, such spaces are not just physical ones. I long realised in my ministry that we crucially need places for encounters of differences, for a shared humanity and an appreciation of our common God-given dignity to be discovered. The reason why my introduction into community organising through Tyne and Wear Citizens, as a newly forming chapter of the Citizens UK in 2015 was so crucial, was that here was emerging a space for people across civic society to meet and to work together. Now Tyne and Wear Citizens is an alliance of about 35 institutions including mosques, schools, charities, community groups, a universities, churches and trade unions, that allow shared concerns and hope to be located across diverse groups of people. Community Organising does not have a monopoly on such spaces but it is so easy for groups in civic society to be in their own narrow furrow, so more of these inter-relational spaces are so needed.

The final reflection is that film teaches us about the need to be a synodal people! The film starts with Syrians reaching their final destination from violence ruptured land with the final image being one of a group procession. A tributary of humanity flowing into a deeper river of people in solidarity and hope. This is a film that is about peoples' transforming journey 'on the way', which is what synodality is all about!

I would imagine that it was a coincidence that the film was released just a few days before the International Synod was to start. But if you want an example of how division and tensions can be overcome by a willingness to be attentive to each other and listen to experiences of trauma, hurt and tragedy, then the Old Oak certainly fits the bill. Therefore, if the delegates are having a difficult day at the synod, I would thoroughly recommend them to watch this powerful yet beautifully portrayed example how of synodal communities can, even in bleak situations, can discover together truth, beauty, goodness and that share in our God-given dignity that is so easily obscured and ignored. The delegates though may need some help with translation, that is from the Geordie! I am happy to help!

Watch the official trailer of The Old Oak here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fwb0c5zqsyM

Fr Chris Hughes is parish priest of St Cuthbert's & St Joseph's, North Shields.

See also:

Film: Sorry We Missed You - www.indcatholicnews.com/news/38251

Film: I Daniel Blake - www.indcatholicnews.com/news/36293

Ken Loach movie wins ecumenical award - www.indcatholicnews.com/news/819