My purchasing behavior has changed enormously in recent years. I used to go to the shops for games or household appliances, for example, nowadays I order it online and get it delivered to my home the next day. Very handy of course, but a change that ultimately has had a huge impact on the brick and mortar stores. That convenience appeals though and the result is that many well-known retail chains disappeared.
The number of packages that must be delivered daily is therefore huge and with all the attention for the environment it is easy to imagine that this has also been a negative development since more miles/kilometers are likely to have to be made per product. But I never realized what that means for the parcel deliverers. Of course it has created extra jobs, but what does the life of a delivery person look like? These men and women have to deliver 150 to 200 packages in just 8.5 hours. Director Ken Loach shows what impact that might have in his new film, Sorry We Missed You.
The British Ricky Turner (Kris Hitchen) is about to become “his own entrepreneur” when he starts working for a company that delivers packages. He can rent a delivery van every day (for a very high amount) or purchase one himself. He decides to do the latter, but because his family has almost no money left, he is forced to sell his wife’s car (Debbie Honeywood). She is a nurse who used her car for home visits, but is now forced to take the bus. Because the working days of both parents are extremely long, this means that their children are home alone for most of the day. And with a teenage son who is still discovering who he is and a young daughter who also needs guidance, that has a lot of impact. The demands of their jobs are so high that what should be the most important thing, the family, suffers, resulting in a number of gripping situations.
With I, Daniel Blake Ken Loach showed a social problem in an impactful way and does it again here. This is a film that, as a viewer, not only lets you feel the pain of the current way of working in certain industries, but also makes you think. How often have you received a note that you were not there for a package? It means the delivery person has lost extra time and has register your package again, the next day has to try to deliver it again and then has to go to a collection point for you so you can pick it up there? From now on, I only intend to have a package delivered if I am sure that I am home and otherwise have it delivered immediately to a collection point. I’m willing to put a little extra effort into making the life of the delivery person easier. And if a film can make you do that, while also show a moving drama (through very convincing acting), then you have made an enormously good film that must be seen by everyone.
[score9]
I agree Daniel Blake was an impactful film. Your review has me curious to watch Loach’s latest.
If you thought that was good, you should definitely check this one out as well.