I, Daniel Blake

2016
R
1h 40m

IMDb RATING

7.8/10

66K

YOUR RATING

A middle aged carpenter who requires state welfare after injuring himself, is joined by a single mother in a similar scenario.

Play trailer2:23

6 Videos

31 Photos

Political Drama Drama

After surviving a heart-attack, a 59-year-old carpenter must fight bureaucratic forces to receive Employment and Support Allowance.After surviving a heart-attack, a 59-year-old carpenter must fight bureaucratic forces to receive Employment and Support Allowance.After surviving a heart-attack, a 59-year-old carpenter must fight bureaucratic forces to receive Employment and Support Allowance.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.8/10

66K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Won 1 BAFTA Award
- 30 wins & 37 nominations total

Trivia
From the end credits: «A very special thanks to workers within the DWP [Department for Work and Pensions] and PCS [Public and Commercial Services] Union who provided us with invaluable information but who must remain anonymous.»

Goofs
Daniel gets into the police car wearing the coat lent to him, but after the car drives off the coat is left on the pavement.

Quotes
[last lines]
Katie: They call this a "pauper's funeral" because it's the cheapest slot, at 9:00. But Dan wasn't a pauper to us. He gave us things that money can't buy. When he died, I found this on him. He always used to write in pencil. And he wanted to read it at his appeal but he never got the chance to. And I swear that this lovely man, had so much more to give, and that the State drove him to an early grave. And this is what he wrote. "I am not a client, a customer, nor a service user. "I am not a shirker, a scrounger, a beggar, nor a thief. "I'm not a National Insurance Number or blip on a screen. "I paid my dues, never a penny short, and proud to do so. "I don't tug the forelock, but look my neighbour in the eye and help him if I can. "I don't accept or seek charity. "My name is Daniel Blake. I am a man, not a dog. "As such, I demand my rights. "I demand you treat me with respect. "I, Daniel Blake, am a citizen, "nothing more and nothing less."Thank you.

Crazy credits
A very special thanks to workers within the DWP [Department for Work and Pensions] and PCS [Public and Commercial Services] Union who provided us with invaluable information but who must remain anonymous. [Government edict that public employees in these departments cannot speak publicly about their work.]

Connections
Featured in Versus: The Life and Films of Ken Loach (2016)

Soundtracks
Sailing By
(1963)
Composed by Ronald Binge
Performed by The Alan Perry/William Gardner Orchestra as The Perry/Gardner Orchestra
Conducted by Ronald Binge
Licensed courtesy of Mozart Edition (Great Britain) Ltd.

User reviews221

Review

Featured review

9/10

A wake up call for Tory Britain. Brilliantly satirises our hateful benefits system.

Ken Loach does it again.

If you know Ken Loach (and importantly his writing partner Paul Laverty) you'll know I, Daniel Blake.

It's a nightmare.

A total nightmare.

Life on poverty line Britain that is.

And Loach hammers this home with gusto.

He chooses Newcastle as his latest political landscape, partly because "it's grim up North" but also because, in my experience, Geordies are the salt of the earth; kind, lovable folks. And this is the main emotional driver of this nightmare.

Daniel Blake is caught in a trap.

A bureaucratic hell populated by "computer says no" mini Hitlers occupying mainly minor roles in the Jobseeker hell that is Tory Britain. In a bid to out 'scroungers' the system has eaten itself and is spitting out vulnerable pitiful fodder like Daniel (played deeply sympathetically by comedian Dave Johns. He'll never win an Oscar but this part was made for him) and the lovable but deeply vulnerable Katie (played equally well by Hayley Squires - Call the Midwife).

He's had a heart attack and his doctors say he can't work but the Benefits Police say he has to go on jobseeker allowance and look for work or lose all entitlement to any money AT ALL.

It's farcical.

She's moved from a women's hostel in London because she can't afford a flat in London with her two children (one slightly miscast as a rather posh daughter, Daisy). She's having the same problems, only hers start from a tinpot Hitler chucking her out of the Job Centre for being late for her appointment.

They bond. He helps her. She helps him. It's grim but deeply affecting. We then follow their shared struggle.

In many ways this movie is like a Ken Loach Primer. It has all his usual trademarks and the 'working class people are good' message is laid on way too thickly.

But.

And it's a big but they are in a profoundly believable real-life drama and I found myself in tears (of collective shame?) three times during it.

It certainly makes the reality of food banks in Britain very, very meaningful. I won't pass a collection point again if my conscience holds up.

Everything that is good about Loach is in this film. In parts it's laugh out loud funny (but it's laughs of derision at our State). In parts it's deeply moving, even though some of the plot is verging on the ridiculous.

But who cares. Ken Loach holds a mirror up to our frankly DISGUSTING society and mocks it.

But he mocks it with the most vicious of venom.

It feels real. Really real.

It's a must see.