Ken Loach is one of the most successful and feted British film directors of all time. He has won 64 film awards and been nominated for 38 others. Yet he has never made a “commercial” film nor had box office smash hit. And he always struggles to get finance for his films. He is the doyen of European cinema yet politely ignored in the UK and the USA. You won’t see him mixing with the rich and famous of Hollywood, talking deals and the like. You may not have seen any of his films at the cinema in the UK or USA (they tend to get a very limited release, even the ones that have won awards). His DVD releases usually end up in the World Cinema section. Yet he is rarely out of work.

How has this happened? To understand this fascinating enigma you have to understand the man himself, where he has come from and his principles and beliefs.

Loach started in television and made his name initially directing social issue dramas for the BBC. He was so successful that “Cathy Come Home”, an episode from the Wednesday play series in 1966 about homelessness, created such a profound impact on viewers that it actually precipitated changes in the law in the UK. It was a social realist drama using unknown actors and had the feeling of a documentary rather than a traditional drama.

He is passionate about exposing social injustice and highly critical of the state and corporate business. In this respect he might be compared to Michael Moore. He always tells his stories through the eyes of common people and shows the effects of state or big business corruption on them. Dealing with real and contemporary issues is his stock in trade. Needless to say this has not endeared him to the establishment in either the UK or USA.

His political perspective is there for all to see. An unashamed left winger, he does not compromise his political beliefs when making a film and they influence both the subject matter and the way in which the story is portrayed. One can see why this might make him a pariah in Hollywood given the checkered history of communism in Hollywood. His film “Carla’s Song” shows the impact of the popular Sandinista revolution in Nicaragua through the eyes of a refugee who returns to find her family and it shows the role of the US administration in supporting the contras who terrorised these ordinary people. The USA is also vilified in “Land and Freedom” - Loach’s Spanish Civil War epic -  for supporting Franco’s fascist regime. So, he doesn’t expect to make too many influential friends in the USA soon.

However, why he is without honour in his native land is more complex. The UK has generally sanctioned diversity of political opinion. Communism is tolerated in principle as are the various shades of red. But this is in the context of a brightly coloured rainbow of political beliefs. And in Europe this is magnified several fold. However, Loach pushes too many buttons that embarrass the UK ruling elite in his films. Just watch ”Raining Stones”, “Ladybird, Ladybird”, “Family Life”, “Riff Raff” and probably his most famous film “Kes”. They all expose the social malaises of the day by accurately portraying the lives of ordinary people and who are affected by poverty, mental illness, the intrusion of the state (social workers) into our lives, unemployment, poor education etc.

His modus operandi is to tell a story through the eyes of the victim. He uses unknown actors or sometimes even non actors in his films to put the focus on the subject rather than the actors themselves. He shoots the films in a neo realist documentary style to draw you into believing that what you are seeing is real. There are no special effects to wow you or take you off message. A lot of it seems to be improvised although I doubt that this is the case. He takes you along with the characters and their journeys into pain, disillusionment, anger, betrayal. He wants you to feel outraged, as outraged as he is himself by the conditions that these common folk find themselves in.

Because of his consummate film making skills honed over many years he is able to influence people’s opinions. Is it propaganda? Probably, but then every story can be looked at from different points of view. But he always manages to embarrass the government of the day by implying (or even baldly stating) that they are responsible and should do something about the problem he has exposed.

His more overtly political films are “Hidden Agenda” about the murky goings-on in Northern Ireland and the recent “The Wind That Shakes The Barley” about the republican movement in Ireland that fought the Black and Tans in 1920. Both films go into areas that show the British government in a less than flattering light.

His more recent films are starting to turn on corporate business and their exploitation of workers treating them as a commodity rather than people. “Bread and Roses” is about the efforts of two latina cleaners who fight for the right to unionise. “McLibel” follows the famous law case where McDonalds took a postman and a gardener to court in the longest trial in UK legal history (7 years) and created an enormous  PR disaster as a result. His most recent production, “It’s a Free World” focuses on the use of immigrant workers, a hot subject on the UK political radar.

I don’t think that Ken Loach is just a political agitator for the hell of it. He passionately believes in his subjects, he exposes the facts and arguments that you don’t normally get to hear in establishment media. He then skillfully weaves a realistic story to bring out these messages and he wants you to think about what you have seen, not just accept what you hear on the radio or read in the newspapers. He wants to stimulate debate. I see him as Britain’s conscience on social and political issues. In fact, he is more effective than the traditional political opposition parties on single issues. But by adopting this role he nevertheless courts controversy.

In Europe he is adored as one of the standard bearers of social realist film making and his films are major events in France, Germany and Italy. This is where he is able to get funding for his films. They are always low budget but he still needs a cocktail of many different funding sources to finance his film making efforts. Every backer knows that they are involving themselves in a quality product but the financial risks are there.

Loach is uncompromising in his vision of film making. He has to be passionate about his subject matter. He has to do it his way. It has to make a difference, to stimulate debate. If he has to reveal uncomfortable truths then so be it. He won’t fudge issues. And in the process he has to be true to his own beliefs. Ken Loach is a unique film maker of enormous integrity and he still deals with contemporary and relevant issues even after 40 years in the business. We will never see Ken Loach do Hollywood. He could not work in those conditions with major studios. He has carved himself a unique niche in film history outside of the Hollywood machine and his reputation is still growing.

KES ORIGINAL FILM POSTER 1969 Ken Loach Barry Hines

Land And Freedom Ken Loach Free UK P&P

MY NAME IS JOE - BY KEN LOACH - NEW DVD

Land And Freedom Ken Loach NEW DVD

CINEMA Of Ken Loach Art In The Service Peopl VALUE BOOK