CousinK Reviews

Modern Times: The Flickering Flame (1996) Season 4, Episode 10

Ken Loach back on form

[10/10 · 30 August 1999]

For those of us who might have been disappointed by some of the most recent Loach movies (Land and Freedom, Carla's song...), "The flickering flame", a TV documentary, shows Loach at his most powerful. The film documents the recent Liverpool docker's strike, where many workers lost their jobs for refusing to go against their own beliefs by crossing a picket line. The film is a great example of a successful political documentary. Loach manages to put across many political points without once being overly demonstrative or heavy. On the contrary, issues such as the betrayal of the workers by their bureaucratic union bosses are plainly and forcefully shown.

As well as being a great political film, publicizing the struggle of the Liverpool dockers, "The flickering flame" can be seen as a comment on the condition of the working-class in Britain, or even throughout "liberal" Europe. The film shows British society's shift to the right and documents the taking away of rights that had been bitterly fought for in the past. Above all, the film shows the dignity of the Liverpool dockers and of their wives. It's a deeply human film that shows how workers who had given their lives to their jobs were unfairly dismissed simply for sticking to their beliefs. One of the best "militant" films of all time.

Kes (1969)

Possibly the best British film of all time !

[10/10 · 30 August 1999]

Although Kes was not Loach's first film (he had made "Cathy come home" for television and "Poor Cow") it is probably his best both artistically and historically. Historically, the film is an important one, because it's the first one that gives an accurate description of a working-class environment. There had been several social realist movies made before it, such as Karel Reisz's "Saturday Night and Sunday Morning" or Tony Richardson's "Billy Liar", but Kes set a whole new agenda. Esthetically, Loach went a lot further than those before him, filming his characters in a quasi-documentary way. Also, the actors were, for a great part, non-professionals, which lent a further "realistic" touch to the film. For the first time, strong regional accents (Yorkshire) were allowed to flow freely. Finally, the story itself is extremely compelling. Without being at all demonstrative or heavy, the film is the most powerful indictment of the british class system that has ever been recorded on film.

Billy Casper, the hero, is shown to have absolutely no chance of escaping his harsh milieu. At home, his half-brother bullies him and he finds no comfort from his mother. At school the behaviour of teachers, career-councillors and headmasters ranges from violent to merely condescending. It's this anti-institutional side to the film that makes it so powerful. Billy basically knows that he'll probably end up down the mine and he knows that school isn't there for his pleasure or his fulfillment but to tell him what to do. So, unable to express himself at home or at school, Billy develops a passion for hawks and devotes great time and effort to the taming of a kestrel. This passion comes to symbolise both the boy's hopes and his identity.

État des lieux (1995)

Despite dogmatic moments the film shines through as a fresh and angry portrayal of life in a french inner city.

[8/10 · 27 August 1999]

"Etat des lieux" belongs to the "genre" of french realist cinema that takes as subject the country's inner cities (banlieues). The most famous of this set of films is undoubtedly Mathieu Kassovitz's "Hate", but "Etat des lieux" is probably the most intriguing on several accounts. Firstly, if this means anything, it is the only film actually made by someone from the inner cities. Secondly, it is striking because of two contradictory aspects. On the one hand it is filmed in a naturalistic, quasi-documentary manner resembling the social realist films of the british. On the other hand, it is a very demonstrative film, and the message put over is clearly a traditional Marxist one. A message driven home by the politically aware hero, factory worker Pierre Seface and by performances of the french rap group "Assassin". Filmed with a low budget, "Etat des lieux" is as winning in its humanity and realism as it is heavy in its more dogmatic moments. However, sometimes filmed with references to soviet revolutionary cinema, "Etat des lieux" comes across as something fresh and angry, denouncing the daily alienation of the working-man and the tedium of the consumer society.