User Reviews

There's a strong argument to be made that Ken Loach is getting sentimental in his old age. 'The Old Oak (2023)' is reportedly the 87-year-old filmmaker's swan song and it's arguably one of his most hopeful films to date - especially when compared to his other recent (and superior) pictures, 'I, Daniel Blake (2016)' and 'Sorry We Missed You (2019)'. That's not to imply that this social realist call to action shies away from breaking your heart (lovers of a certain animal may just explode into a shower of tears thanks to a certain shocking scene), nor does it present itself as an overly idealised version of modern Britain. Loach still loathes the state of things and puts the blame solely on those in power (the only place it can sensibly lie), and he often uses his characters to espouse the ideals he so clearly holds close to his own heart. At the same time, though, there's an undercurrent of community and solidarity that is never fully stomped out by the racism, xenophobia and general bigotry on display by the story's least sympathetic characters. In some ways, that's almost a bigger middle finger to the system that breeds such views by scapegoating very real socio-economic issues on those who are least responsible for them (and are the most vulnerable, to boot). The narrative explores the events that unfold when a group of Syrian refugees are placed in a poverty-stricken village in the North of England that has essentially been left to rot, showcasing the disgusting resistance (i.e. Bigotry) they're met with after they've escaped a warzone and have been brought to one of the richest countries in the world only to find that people are having to choose between heating their homes and feeding their kids. It posits that the refugees and the unwelcoming community they're integrated with have more similarities than differences, and that it's only the worst members of the community that can't come to accept that. In fact, their ignorant attitudes actually hurt everyone in the village. The racism and xenophobia that is brought out of the protagonist's once friends is always extremely uncomfortable to sit through, and the film does a good job in making sure that it never even comes close to excusing - or, worse, sharing - these harmful attitudes. After a certain point, you've constantly got your guard up and anticipate some form of racially-motivated conflict at every turn, which - in some small way - puts you in the same position as its Syrian characters and further increases your empathy for them. Mainly thanks to a couple of surprisingly good performances from its non-professional lead actors, the movie is often as emotionally affecting as it is bleakly realistic. Its highs hit as hard as its lows and its important messaging is always resonant. It does have a few narrative issues that seem to mainly arise from its desire to subvert expectation in an effort to be more 'real' than a satisfyingly structured screenplay could - in their view - ever be. Certain plot elements are introduced yet never revisited, and the central concept doesn't come into play until far later than you may expect or, indeed, want. Still, it's an engaging and effective affair throughout. It isn't as good as some of Loach's other work, and it won't change the minds of those that need their minds changing simply due to the fact that they won't see it, but it's a solid and surprisingly hopeful note on which to end an impressively consistent career.

These times they are a changing far too quick, after decades of the same worn politics, with mind-sets mired in hate, they just want to close the gate, and ignore those who need help, from their conflict; but there are those who have an empathetic heart, who can remove the barriers from their ramparts, some have travelled far and wide, some more permanent reside, both camps realise the need for a new start; so they build a bridge and start to make a deal, by renovating rooms to share their meals, a community is born, amid the contempt and the scorn, all for one, and one for all, is how they feel.

Wonderful performances all round.

I thought that Yara and TJ were very good characters. In fact, I'm disappointed to have seen an interview with the actor who played TJ who said that's going to be his one and only film. I'd really like to see him again in more movies. I am sure we will see the actress who played Yara again. I like films that are naturalistic. There are so many films in which conversations are so slick and word perfect and that simply does not reflect real life for most people. Both Yara and TJ were like people that I have met in real life and so I could relate to them very easily in the film..

I've seen criticism of this work based on some characters in the film being "wooden ". But again, people can be pretty wooden in real life and so it is not unreasonable to have that depicted in films here and there. We can't all be as smooth as George Clooney or Meryl Streep.

The character, Charlie put me in mind of Mark Kermode (due to his looks, not his conduct). To me, he was very much like Mark Kermode with a grey rinse.

I thought that the actor who played the electrician was very good and very reminiscent of contractors I have met.

I found the film moving and engaging.

According to himself "The old oak" is his last film. Not very strange if you consider that Ken Loach is already 87 years of age. He already made films when I was hardly born and in the meantime I am nearly sixty now.

"The old oak" (2023) is the last episode of the "austerity trilogy" (all films situated in or around Newcastle upon Tyne). In the first episode "I, Daniel Blake" (2016) a poor man struggles against government bureaucracy. In the second episode "Sorry we missed you" (2019) the main character is misled to become a fake entrepeneur but in reality is a worker without the usual rights.

"The old oak" is about poor people (workers in a region that economically has never recovered from the closing of coal mines) that are obliged to live together with other poor people (Syrian refugees).

Loach treats this theme with much more idealism (and sentimentality) than the raw reality and unhappy endings of the previous two episodes of the "austerity trilogy". The main character, pub owner T. J. Ballantyne (Dave Turner), is almost too good to be true and to a great extent he succeeds in bringing the local and Syrian communities together. Of course there are a few old men in the cast that turn out to be incurable racists, but they seem to have lost their feeling with society.

Keeping hope is important, but nevertheless is "The old oak" in my opinion the weakest film of the austerity trilogy". Not only contrasts the idealism of the film with the raw reality of the two other episodes, it also contrasts with the political reality of the moment. I am not only thinking of the results of the recent elections in the Netherlands (victory for a populist party that is fiercly anti immagration) but also about the immagration policy in the Netherlands (and Europe wide) in which immigrants are treated as dangerous people that ought to be minimized instead of as people in need that ought to be helped.

The four racists in the film have unfortunately not lost their feeling with society but are perfectly in sync with it. The "Oppressed people of all nations unite" of "The old oak" sounds very much like the Socialist slogan "Workers of all countries unite" from before the First World War. It didn't work then, and I am afraid it won't work now.

The film reminded me very much of "Le Havre" (2011, Aki Kaurismâki). Did the excess of idealism of this film irritate me also? I don't remember exactly, it is a long time ago, but I don't think so. The films of Aki Kaurisämik have more of a fairy-tale nature than those of Ken Loach.

I don't think I've ever seen a film that emotionally hooked me as quickly as The Old Oak did. Right from the off you are dragged into the visceral and powerful emotion of this piece, and it rarely relents.

It depicts events after a group of Syrian refugees is placed in an ex mining town in the north-east of England. Despite it being a fiction, the realism that Loach brings to the film and the fact that anybody living in Britain will unfortunately recognise the language and sentiment makes it an intensely devastating film. But it is not all doom and gloom. It also shows the best of humanity and how people can rally around each other, which also makes for a truly inspiring film.

I actually think with a film like this the technical elements (even though they are mostly great) are actually irrelevant. The message of this film is so crucial and powerful and is conveyed so well, and that is the most important thing. It is impossible not be stirred emotionally by this film in only a way the best film makers can achieve.

With the awful rhetoric surrounding refugees that is encouraged and perpetrated by those in power, films like this feel more crucial than ever, making this an absolute must watch piece of cinema.

Set in a rapidly fading Northern English mining town, this tells the tale of an attempt to integrate some Syrian refugees fleeing the terror in their own country into a community that it still reeling from the systematic closure of their own livelihoods. Much of the story is based around the run-down "Old Oak" boozer which is run by the relatively open-minded "TJ" (Trevor Fox) who is pretty much a lone voice when it comes to welcoming these strangers to a place that's been devoid of investment - and hope - for many a year. Most of the locals see them fed and housed and, frankly, they resent it. Homes that they bought many years ago are now worth 20% of their former value, people and their families are trapped and their traditions and culture is dying. It's keen photographer "Tania" (Debbie Honeywood) who tries to bridge the cultural gap between the two peoples and eventually finds some like-minded folk who start to resurrect some of the practical solutions to the problems that this area faced during the turbulence of the miners' strikes of the 1980s. Unlike many of Ken Loach's other films, this is not an overtly political (anti-Thatcherite) statement. It's about the decline of a way of life, but set against a context of disaster and devastation faced by people fleeing something far more lethal and brutal. Indeed there is a positively celebratory scene where the Syrians are delighted to learn that their absent father/husband is not actually dead - he's just in a slum prison! The fact that these families are escaping something akin to the blitz doesn't lessen the resentment from some, though, and "TJ" is constantly trying to balance the needs of his customers/lifelong friends with his heartfelt desire to help these piteous homeless and stateless individuals. Despite the hostility on display at times, there is a pervading decency throughout this film and by the conclusion - which is not, in self, particularly conclusive - there is maybe just a little scope for optimism. If you enjoyed this film, check out "R. M. N" (2022) - a Romanian film doing the rounds just now that looks at this scenario from a different yet similar perspective and reminds us all, a little, of there but for the grace of god!

I am one of the projectionists in the local small town cinema with only two or three shows per week. The end titles of a film is not only for crediting all people involved in the production, it is also a time to reflect and contemplate on what you experienced when watching the movie, and you can measure how touched people were by how long they stay during the end titles. When The Old Oak was the movie for the evening not a single one in the audience got up from their seats until the last line in the credits had passed, the screen had faded to black and the curtains closed. That is a mark of a very touching movie!

STAR RATING: ***** Brilliant **** Very Good *** Okay ** Poor * Awful

T. J. Ballantyne (Dave Turner) is the owner and proprietor of The Old Oak, a rundown, last surviving pub in a former mining town in the North East. Separated from his son, and with only local community activist Tania (Debbie Honeywood) and a few regulars for company, T. J.'s life was saved a few years ago by a small pet dog, who he now enjoys taking for walks. But when a group of Syrian refugees arrive in the town, whilst a housing crisis beckons, it causes a divide among T. J. and his former mining friends. When refugee Mara (Elha Mari) suggests they use the power of cooking to form a bond, it forces everyone to show their true colours.

The third film set in the North East from director Ken Loach and writer Paul Laverty, and reportedly the last film from eighty-seven year old Loach, effectively forms something of a trilogy, after 2019's Sorry We Missed You and 2016's I, Daniel Blake. Curiously, Loach has chosen to set this film in 2016, the year the latter of those two films was released, and more notably the year of 'the Brexit vote.' A few of the characters espouse the attitudes of many that people would have associated with a Brexit voter, but perhaps in a film centred around immigration, Loach wanted to show the average voter on the matter might have had more nuanced outlook on the matter than many might have thought.

Loach has crafted his trademark sense of realism once again, but the sense of urgency generated from scenes in previous films is missing here, in spite of the tensions that the central protagonists in the film are facing, instead meandering along, with drama flaring here and there, but at more of a leisurely, undramatic pace. That's not to say there aren't some powerful, wrenching moments that strike at the heart, there just feels less to lose. You do really get the impression of a place that was once prosperous that has been left to rot, a place full of desperate individuals who find themselves joined by some similarly desperate people. As T. J. notes at one point, why do we blame those at the bottom instead of those at the top.

Even the ending nods to a sense of hope in spite of despair, unlike Loach's other more recent output. If this is his last film, it won't be remembered as his best, but certainly a memorable swansong. ***

Just watched this masterpiece in the 64th TIFF and a dream came true. Felt like I introduced myself to Ken Loach, a resident of the social realism kingdom and his movie that delves into the hot topic of refugees and asylum seekers, where everything depicted with such an authentic, genuine and heartfelt way, making you feel that you sit in a corner, present and ready to engage with what is going on. Maybe its the most realistic movie Loach ever made, close in comparison with I Daniel Blake (2016), with characters taken from real life and situations very close with some of which each one of us maybe encountered and never took a position on a subject when we should. After watching it you are going to get some of the power of this eternal teenager who goes by the name Ken Loach and find a way to make your community a better place regardless age, color and race. Go for it.

The story itself is not surprising or revolutionary. Everything that happens is essentially what any decent human being can hope to see in any story of integration that involves deprived locals and war refugees from vastly distinct cultures.

It is not particularly well told or developed. Many of the interesting tensions are not well explored. The plot shifts and turns are sometimes predictable, other times quite random and often badly delivered.

The saving grace is that actors are local and the struggles are real. It becomes quite another thing to see local people trying to tell a fictional story based on their own very real history of resistance and change.

My wife and I saw this over the release weekend thought it was the best piece of cinema we have seen in decades. Loach and the writer have created a masterpiece. The film is very moving and upsetting at times. It has no Hollywood-style 'Everything will be alright in the end' moments in it, but does provide hope. It shows the appalling treatment some of the Syrian refugees received but it also shows you the other side - the ex-Coal mining villagers savagely destroyed by Thatcher. Everyone should watch this, it should be shown in schools quite frankly. Maybe it will make people (and government ministers) think about what others might be going through, maybe it will people care more about others.

My Review- The Old Oak My Rating - 7/10

This is a movie worth seeing as it's so relevant to the events that are occurring today on our War torn planet .

Refugee numbers are increasing at an alarming rate due to conflict and climate change . Local Communities will be called on more and more to support displaced populations who must flee their bombed out cities and the destruction that threatens their lives.

THE OLD OAK is the story of a village near Durham in the Northeast of England, where mine closures from The Thatcher era plus the fallout from Brexit have caused economic hardship for the local community .

The inhabitants of the village feel deserted by the system which has caused many young ones to leave what was once a thriving, proud community struggling to keep old values alive.

There is growing anger, resentment, and a lack of hope because their homes have dropped in value and selling cheap .

This makes it an ideal location for the Syrian refugees that have been accepted by Britain in recent years. How will the Syrians be received? And what will be the future for the last remaining pub in the village, The Old Oak?

This movie is well produced and directed and has some incredibly poignant moments especially the scenes in Durham Cathedral where a young Syrian refugee woman Yara beautifully played by Ebla Mari is overwhelmed by the beauty and music of The Cathedral as she relates her sadness tinged with hope to her friend and ally TJ Ballantyne the publican at The Old Oak also beautifully played by Dave Turner.

She tells him about the beautiful mosques that have been bombed and destroyed in Syria by the Assad regime and wonders that her children will never see.

I couldn't help but compare the current cruel conflict in Gaza and the pain and loss of civilians on both sides .

The ending of The Old Oak I found a bit over sentimental and unsatisfactory but the overall message of tolerance and compassion by communities that are asked to give displaced refugees a chance of a new life very powerful.

The Old Oak is directed by Ken Loach and written by Paul Laverty. It is a co-production between the United Kingdom, France and Belgium.

With an incredibly modest budget of only $3.8 million location shooting took place in the northeast of England. BAFTA award winning British director Ken Loach, who turned 87 prior to the films release, told The Hollywood Reporter it would "probably" be his last film.

Filming was completed in just six weeks in May 2022 with location filming taking place in County Durham , Murton, Horden and Easington. The pub in Murton that became The Old Oak during filming was a disused pub previously known as The Victoria.

This is a delightful small movie with a Giant message for our troubled 21st Century that together the human spirit can conquer tyranny but first the hand of friendship must reach out to embrace new cultures and vice versa or suspicion and mistrust will win out.

The Old Oak is more "I, Daniel Blake" than "Sorry We Missed You". Those films were both new-peak Loach, I, Daniel Blake with two strong roles as in The Old Oak, and Sorry We Missed You, with a handful.

Like I, Daniel Blake, in The Old Oak, the local person aids strangers with whom he has no connection through his strong moral bearings. In both films, an older man helps out a younger woman, dispensing with the need in movies for a love story, and dealing instead with feelings of community.

The Old Oak is a melancholy tale, but these are the twists and turns of ordinary, real lives described and the results in how people act, shown, rather than dumb show. Loach's films offer a different kind of uplift, that of getting a little more insight into humanity, the insight that few filmmakers are capable of.

The strangers are Syrian refugees. How their story is depicted is the disappointment of the film. It's as if the film was made 10 years ago rather than today in the sense that in 2013, Wikileaks hadn't revealed the damning evidence for what the Syrian war was and why it was depicted as it was.

The film unfortunately even talks about "Assad's regime." A pity to put the phrase into the mouth of a Syrian refugee in a film by a leftist. The chemical attacks the character talks about have been debunked by Seymour Hersh and Aaron Maté among others as having been committed by the Syrian government.

Wikileaks with Grayzone "leaked documents show how UK government contractors developed an advanced infrastructure of propaganda to stimulate support in the West for Syria's political and armed opposition." Of course, the character in the film relating her story can't be expected to know this. But a leftwing filmmaker, the same as any informed leftwing person has known this for a few years now.

This review has become political because Ken Loach is a political filmmaker. Such a filmmaker you'd think would know better and have learnt 3/4 years ago that British intelligence services ran training from the ground up for propaganda units to provide "evidence" to all the major news networks from Aljazeera to CNN and the BBC. Even the Washington Post wrote that the Syrian War cost the US as much as a $1 billion annually. The US funded the Al Qaeda offshoots being portrayed as moderate rebels.

It turns out that Loach took the cowardly route, surprisingly, with this film, as he simply echoed the Western propaganda produced by UK government contractors of the Assad-devil regime and what people faced from him in the war rather than dealing with the actuality of extremists funded by the US warring on Syria to overthrow its non-compliant government on behalf and under the pay of, the United States.

It's all very well showing the difficulties of culture clashes, how relations are strained but can be mended through common humanity, but to get overtly political and not by now see through the concerted propaganda campaign and fall for those lies and get it wrong as if this was 2013, well, there's really no excuse.

No one can deny that our world is deeply divided. On a global scale, the plight of refugees fleeing conflict zones provokes strong emotions, which in turn breed prejudice, drive a wedge between communities, question long-held traditions, and make it harder for those who have lost loved ones, are uprooted, and are trying to find their place in the world.

Ken Loach tackles these profound issues in his movie, The Old Oak. Loach has made a name for himself with politically charged films. This one is no different, and he tackles these difficult and sensitive issues with empathy and nuance. The performances of Dave Turner and Ebla Mari (who plays Yara, one of the Syrian refugees) are outstanding, and they convey the soul and the pain of the characters. The performances from the non-professional cast are uneven, but I didn't feel this ever detracted from the film, which, at times, can feel like a blunt weapon. This film contains a few scenes that are absolutely blazing with intensity.

The Old Oak brings up some important questions for us, such as how to encourage kindness and unity in our neighbourhoods. How do social media platforms affect local communities? And how can our communities' cultural divides be closed? They are all handled in a compelling, dramatic, and powerful way.

If you are interested in watching films that are socially relevant, making a trip to the cinema to watch The Old Oak is something you should absolutely do. In a world that is becoming more and more torn apart, this is a powerful call for compassion and solidarity.

It's still another emotional roller coaster that has you crying & smiling and full of positivity despite its subject matter

The themes here are loss , poverty , community , race relations , change , ignorance , hatred , bullying, racism , warmth , care

Inevitably this will be compared to Sorry we missed you & I Daniel Blake - and I would say don't watch it expecting this to be as good as it's not , it's not at well produced as the previous two , whether that was acting , script or subject matter it didn't draw you in as much but despite that it's still better than 99% of films you'll see and still deserves 10/10

Go and watch it - you'll be moved

Pad. A 10/10.

It's 2016 in a dying mining town in northeast England. Syrian refugees are moving in and attracting racist attitudes among the downtrodden locals. TJ Ballantyne (Dave Turner) owns the local pub, The Old Oak. His father was a miner who struggled in the 1984 strike. The bar is barely hanging on and he has almost given up on trying to do good. He strikes up an unlikely friendship with young Syrian woman Yara (Ebla Mari).

This is apparently director Ken Loach's final film. The man has done enough in his late 80's and deserves to retire. This is very much his liberal idealism on full display. I do question two aspects. Yara is the only young Syrian woman without a hijab. That seems to be deliberate and I think it's a mistake. Does he think that the regular audience would be unable to root for her if she's wearing one? The other elephant in the room is Brexit. I don't know if this takes place before the vote or after the vote. Maybe I missed it.

Mostly, I think that Loach is trying too hard. The stereotypes are too broad and obvious. Loach is hitting everything on the nose. He has always gave humanity and reality to the lower class. This is different. He does not leave anything to interpretation. He is saying everything directly and out loud. In that way, this is his last sermon and it shows.

Loach is one of the most important names that made me love cinema. A Loach film immediately reveals itself. A Loach film is not a British film, it's a Loach film.

This film is not very different from the films made by a liberal British filmmaker for the bbc.

Loach's trademark unique narrative language is absent in this film.

There is not even a script integrity. In fact, there are gaps in between, as if the film was two and a half hours long but reduced to 110 minutes.

For example, details such as the fact that people who looked at Syrians as scum until the day before suddenly went to the funeral as if they had mastered Syrian culture...

The anti-Bashar al-Assad remarks of our Syrian character as if they were written just to indicate the political position of the British...

I couldn't understand why Kes chose such a way to say goodbye to cinema 60 years after his film.

Poverty, workers' rights, poor people struggling to survive against state fascism are the main details of a Loach film, but in this film they are just details that seem to be mentioned for the sake of being mentioned and turned into grinning details.

If I wanted to watch a film by a liberal Englishman, I would watch the films of Englishmen who work for Hollywood.

Loach was our harbour of refuge against these people.

Also; It is a complete hypocrisy that the Westerners, who watch the Syrians sink their boats and die, who expel the Syrians fleeing to their countries to Turkey under inhumane conditions, have recently made films about Suirian refugees.

I especially mention this because the BBC, which does not report on these issues, is among the producers of this film.

The last movie of one unofficial trilogy set in the North-East of England, which likely Ken Loach is giving his farewell to feature films. In his last two movies, " I, Daniel Blake" and" Sorry we missed", Ken Loach and Paul Laverty (screenwriter) told us stories about our vulnerability as just humans in this world with great challenges ahead, much greater than us. Those stories have been told from the "inside "perspective of human beings born and raised in the North-East of England where, for different reasons, their nature as human beings is put under discussion.

But in his last movie, Loach assumes the perspective of an "outsider" of who has no other choice, rather to leave everything behind and find a new place to just live.

But as humans, we still did not manage to build a place everyone can call home, and feel just human. At the beginning of the movie, Loach shows us a reality which is reluctant to any change and improvement whether from the outside or the inside. The message is clear, like a black and white picture from Yara's (Ebla Mari) camera : the world will not change, there is nothing left worth fighting for.

But sometimes something small can be done. The world will not change, but some of us can. And then you will get to share your meal at the Old Oak with whoever decides to do so, and all the others can just turn down the invitation.

Together we eat Together we fight Thank you Ken.

Over the years I have seen many of Ken Loach's gritty social(ist) realism films. The Old Oak is probably his last. Once again he takes a cast of amateurs and plops them in a former mining village to tell a story of working class life. The script is by his long-time collaborator Paul Laverty.

What makes The Old Oak standout is the addition of a healthy dose of sentimentality. I don't remember shedding a tear at a Ken Loach film since 'Kes' . Have a box of tissues to hand when you watch this unlikely story of a pub landlord forging a bond with a group of Syrian refugees "bussed" into a former Durham mining village by TPTB without any consultation or warning to the local community.

Ken gives voice to the racists who are the children of scabs who had returned to work during the 1984-85 Miners strike. He also gives voice to homeowners whose property values are destroyed by foreign property speculators.

The main focus is the relationship between the pub landlord TJ, and Yarra who is the spokesperson for the Syrian families. She speaks good english (learnt while acting as a translator in a refugee hospital) and takes great photographs until her camera is smashed by a Scottish thug in a Newcastle shirt (isnae Jazzer from "The Archers").

Then there is the little dog... and of course the Miners Strike as captured in B&W photos by a young TJ but locked away in the back room.

Apart from a couple of scenes the amatuer actors do a great job of breathing life into the characters they portray. The "baddies" all have previous experience acting for Ken.

Big thank you to South Norwood Community Kitchen for arranging free screening.

Ken Loach and screenwriter Paul Laverty join forces again for another great movie. A down on his luck pub owner (the eponymous old oak) befriends a Syrian refugee family who have moved into the street, much to the chagrin of some of the locals. Whilst there is an undercurrent of racism, Loach's latest (I do hope not his last) is fundamentally about community, friendship and hope. The ending might be a bit saccharine and perhaps unrealistic for some more hardened viewers, but for me the film earns its sentimentality. Whilst not in the same league as his two Palm D'or winning masterpieces (TWTSTB and I,DB) it is nonetheless a welcome return to form for Loach following his strangely unmoving last outing, Sorry I Missed You. The world will be a lesser place without Ken Loach movies. The greatest director of all time in my view. 8 out of ten.

If this film doesn't tug at your heart strings, I don't know what will.

I was completely drawn into this, despite the hatred shown throughout. Beautifully written and filmed, wonderfully acted. There are scenes that you really may not wish to see or even beat about, but the sad truth is that this is Britain, and this is what it is like here, and in poverty stricken areas it is no doubt even worse for the areas that are hit hard the most. If you have a spare 1h 50min, this really is eye opening and well worth a watch I could only imagine seeing someone in government watching this not believing what they are seeing... This is Britain!.. and it's ugly, sadly.