The films of Ken Loach are always worth the investment in time and attention. Films like this can not be made in Hollywood, where the dominating criterion for production is the financial profit. Even when a Hollywood producer has found a challenging theme, it is usually garbled with sensational and primitive digressions. In the attempt to appeal to easily accessible animal instincts, the average Hollywood films portray selfishness, deceit, aggression and even mass slaughter as desirable qualities. Such films foster a culture, that actually hampers human progress. The films of Ken Loach always address the civilized side of human nature, and allow for fertile self-reflexion. The Navigators is a masterpiece about railway labor, although it appeals probably more to Europeans than to other nationalities. The European railways were socialized a century ago, because the operational efficiency requires a monopoly situation, and private monopolies are a natural source of abuse. Nevertheless, in the eigthies the British Thatcher government decided to reprivatize British Rail. The film describes the effect of the privatization on the personnel of a maintenance depot. The personnel consists of rough workmen, who find pleasure and pride in their profession. When British Rail is cut into pieces, the depot is renamed into East Midland Company, and has to canvass for commissions with Rail Track. Maintenance work comes in batches, and the new management views permanent appointments as superfluous expenses. Perhaps more important, the restructuring allows to eliminate the trade unions, which were strong in the former structure (although apparently not strong enough). New competition is introduced by private firms, who employ temporary personnel and compete for commissions. They pay more on an hourly basis, but spare the costs of training and holiday allowances. Thus the entrepreneurial risks are transferred to the workers. Most important, they dramatically reduce the quality and safety standards. The decent work of the railway depot, once more renamed, this time into Gilchrist Engineering, is no longer appreciated by Rail Track, and Gilchrist runs out of work. Employees are made redundant, and are stimulated by means of bonuses to resign. Subsequently they are hired by the new cowboy firms, through temporary employment agencies (flexible contracts). In the end one of the railway workers dies in an accident, during a job where he is hit by a passing train because the look-out man has been omitted. In this film I like in particular the excellent portrayal of the workman's' culture. You can so to say smell the sweat. The essence is probably the complete bewilderment caused by the privatization, which hits the workers, well, like a train. They lose control over their working environment and income. They land in a world of flex-contracts, where fate is an unknown, even on the short term. Of course they manage to adapt in time, but their lives sink to a lower level of human existence. It is a striking story, which is closely related to this other Ken Loach film "Bread and Roses" about the working poor.
Review of The Navigators
