British director Ken Loach and screenwriter writer Paul Laverty have been mostly alone in carrying on the tradition of neo-realism that dates back to Rossellini and DeSica in Italy in the forties: social consciousness and a concern for working people. Daniel Blake is an older carpenter who has had a heart attack and spends the film futilely fighting for his "employment and support allowance" to which he is entitled by law. Whether the government bureaucracy has gotten worse since the days of Margaret Thatcher is unclear but Blake is led around in circles while waiting to hear from the Kafkaesque "decision-maker," who may or may not actually exist. Blake is required to learn how to use a computer ("jobs are online by default") and to produce a resume and distribute it, even though his doctor says he is not ready to return to work.
Loach has shown clearly that the worst sufferers in today's bureaucratic world are the very young (as Loach showed in his early film Kes, 1969) and the very old, as Blake uses his carpentry skills to help a woman and her two young children, who have been banished from London to Newcastle because of the problem with finding them affordable housing. The volunteers at the food pantries are quite helpful, while the welfare workers are criticized by their supervisors if they show any concern or sympathy as they make the recipients toe the line and follow the regulations.
One thing I do wonder about is whether Drake's representative in parliament could have been of any help or if anyone even thought of this. I only mention this because when I was having trouble receiving my children's Social Security money I contacted Senator Schumer's office and they quickly cut through the bureaucracy and solved the problem. See my post of Jan. 28, 2016 as well as my post July 16, 2017, with my comments on Loach's Jimmy's Hall.
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