I saw a preview screening of Ken Loach’s new, and possibly last, film The Old Oak last night at the Cinéma du Panthéon, thanks to a festival organised by Les Cinémas Indépendants Parisiens. It’s a beautiful and moving movie, I recommend it.
I happen to be going to visit dear friends in the North of England soon, and having also recently attended an event about what is actually going on in people’s lives around the UK, the themes seemed similar (it was a piece of qualitative research brilliantly prepared and presented by Richard Huntington and Mark Hadfield; hosted by the APG – The Home for Planners & Strategists and Saatchi & Saatchi, thank you all again).
The movie is about a disenfranchised old mining village in the North of England, and what happens when Syrian refugees move in. The derelict Old Oak pub is the only public space left. It is really an exploration and inquiry about hope or lack thereof, mostly seen through the eyes of the main two characters, the pub landlord TJ Ballantyne, and Yara, a young Syrian woman.
I read notes and interviews of the director Ken Loach and screenwriter Paul Laverty, thanks to an interview and the French distributor’s press pack, linked below. They travelled around the North of England for six months to gather stories from people.
It’s probably ironic and contradictory to quote Ken Loach and marketing consumer research in the same post. To a certain extent and taking a wide view, both aim to understand and share stories of real people, probably with quite different end goals.
When this American journalist asks a question of Ken Loach about his commitment to social realism and politics, this is his reply:
“Loach: I’m not keen on the “ism,” really. Our starting point is: you tell stories in a way that shares a common humanity—a way in which, if we were in a room with them, we’d be empathizing with the characters. We would be understanding why these people were behaving in the way they do. We would know who they were. We’d come to conclusions about what we were seeing, and we’d share their tears, we’d share the laughter.”
~Ken Loach
I enjoy working with businesses and helping them solve tricky marketing and brand challenges, and understanding people and their stories, yet I regularly wonder about the value of what I do. In the grand scheme of things I don’t particularly believe people need more from brands or advertising.
Aside from the straight up film recommendation, I guess I’m just musing. I’ll finish with screenwriter Paul Laverty quoting Saint Augustine:
“Hope has two beautiful daughters; their names are Anger and Courage. Anger at the way things are, and Courage to see that they do not remain as they are.”
~Saint Augustine
Interview of Ken Loach and Paul Laverty, by Inney Prakash on Film Comment Magazine
Film press pack & info from Le Pacte, French distributor
