Moving and accurate.
Eviction. Sanction. Bureaucracy. Hunger. The film about two benefit claimants in Newcastle has them all. There’s no commentary. They speak for themselves.
At Citizens Advice Reigate & Banstead we can confirm no problem faced by recovering heart patient Daniel is unusual. And the ripple of London’s housing market on single mum Katie, rehoused north, is felt here too.
But the film has also moved many to tears.
Some dismiss it as emotive left-wing nostalgia. Unfairly. If it provokes outrage it is through quiet intensity, not obvious politicking. Which is presumably why it won the prize in Cannes.
Our response? To redouble our efforts: for those with problems, but also helping and campaigning for change with those who deliver services for the government and the rest of us.
I, Daniel Blake is a cry for a citizen’s rights.
We’re proud to work for those rights as our name asserts. We hope we show the same compassion and realism as Ken Loach’s film. In fact the tragedy of Daniel Blake might just have been avoided if he’d asked Citizens Advice for help. It’s what we do.