Review 557: Sorry We Missed You
The film is a powerful exploration of the contemporary world of work, the gig economy and the challenges faced by one family trying to hold it all together.
It deals with people in work struggling to survive. It's about a very real issue which is very much in the news about what happens when people are excluded from essential employment rights by the circumstances under which they do their job.
Ricky (Kris Hitchen) is given an opportunity to become an owner, driver franchisee. As his supervisor says “You don’t work for us, you work with us.” He becomes an entrepreneur of the road; a warrior of the road. He only has the illusion of freedom as the risk is transferred from the corporation to him so if there’s a sickness or accident or if his van gets a dent, he bares the brunt of it.
He faces the issues that van drivers have in real life.
Loach imbues this film (as he does with a lot of his films) with a strong sense of naturalism. Everything looks like a documentary because it starts at a point of about a family in circumstances that are very believable and we see the screws of pressure being turned more and more.
The cinematography is superb. It strongly gives you the impression that you’re peering through the looking glass into the difficult lives of a lower class family.
As with most of his films, Loach casts virtually unknowns in his roles which adds greatly to the sense of realism that he's aiming for.
Sorry We Missed You is a film about very nice people who live very difficult lives because of their lower class status.
Ricky once dreamed of owning his own house with his wife and kids but everything changed for him after the financial crash and suddenly he find himself in position where he needs to change his situation. He has no education or professional training so even when he starts, he only has very basis workers rights becuase he's not employed, he's very much looking after himself.
If something happens in his life and he doesn't show up for work, he gets fined. If something happens in his job, he carries all the risk of the loss of equipment and parcels no matter what happens, everything comes back to his choices and as he discovers he has less and less choice. On top of that, his job is insanely demanding because he's constantly trying to deliver his parcels on time and he's working to a schedule that is impossible and more often than not, he's not fondly greated.
As the job goes on, he has to take on the responsibility for and to deal with it, he has to work more and more
Every moment of his life is dictated to him and the pressure of the job is relentless, so he barely has any time for a breather, he doesn’t have time for lunch, he doesn’t have time to go the toilet, he’s always on the move.
Ricky's life doesn't improve over the course of the film, he's constantly facing obstacles such as traffic wardens and vandals.
Ricky's wife Abbie (Debbie Honeywood) doesn't have it any better because she's an overstretched care worker who has to commute to her very various customers on the bus. Each job that she does she's not allowed to spend the amount of time with each person she's that she'd like because she simply does not have enough hours in the day to do what she does.
As they have to work more and more, they spend less time with their children Seb and Liza.
Not lagging far behind are Rhys Stone and Katie Proctor playing the children Seb and Liza. Seb has a lot of different issues namly being rebelous and fighting with his dad
5/5.
The Anonymous Critic.
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