The Old Oak

The Old Oak (2023) is set in a town in the north east of England where the pits have closed. TJ runs the last surviving pub. One day Syrian refugee families arrive by bus, placed there by the government. Some of the townspeople treat it as something done to them. Its best quality is understanding both sides. The local anger comes out of real deprivation: the mines closed, services were cut, the houses lost their value. The film does not excuse the anger but it shows where it came from. The idea at its centre is the closed function room behind the pub. During the strike the mining families ate together in there, and photographs from those days are still on the wall. TJ proposes reopening it. Ken Loach directed from a screenplay by Paul Laverty, as usual. Loach announced it would be his last film; he made it at eighty seven. The cast was drawn largely from non professionals, the method he has used for a long time. It competed at Cannes in 2023. It runs 113 minutes. Good for: social realism, Ken Loach, and films about migration and class. Less good for: the film states its argument outright and some scenes are staged as position papers. The reconciliation arrives too quickly. Anyone who knows Loach's earlier work will find the structure familiar.