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I, Daniel Blake

2016 • 100 minutes
4.5
363 reviews
92%
Tomatometer
15
Rating
Eligible

About this movie

From acclaimed director Ken Loach, comes this astonishing story of triumph and adversity in modern day Britain. Daniel Blake has worked as a joiner most of his life in Newcastle. Now, for the first time ever, he needs help from the State. He crosses paths with single mother Katie who is battling to keep her two young children fed. Daniel and Katie find themselves in a no-man’s land, striving to pull themselves out of the welfare bureaucracy of modern day Britain. Award winning and critically lauded, I, Daniel Blake, is the vital film for our times. Sixteen Tyne Limited, Why Not Productions, Wild Bunch, Les Films du Fleuve, British Broadcasting Corporation, France 2 Cinéma and The British Film Institute 2016. All Rights Reserved.
Rating
15

Ratings and reviews

4.5
363 reviews
Daffodil Salad
May 8, 2017
Heartbreaking. Dan and his friend Katie, very ordinary likeable people, being chewed up by the UK benefits system - the totally inappropriate Work Capability Assessment, being rejected for Employment Support Allowance, the Kafkaesque Jobcentre, online forms and faceless Decision Makers, arbitrary sanctions leaving them with no money to live on. The scene at the Foodbank, that icon of Tory rule in the UK, is unforgettable, very emotional to watch. And we see how Dan, and Katie and her children, then suffer and struggle through the impacts of all this on them. I can see why this film was awarded the Palme d'Or at Cannes. It's a modern Les Misérables.
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Justin Cantor
March 19, 2017
To the people who have said this film is propaganda and doesn't resemble the UK benefits system, i know for a fact that you haven't been through it as there is no possible way you would have that view if you had. I have been through the riggers of the benefits system and was eventually awarded severe disability benefit so i know this film is spot on. I am now 1yr away from my reassessment. My doctor, physiatrist and my physician said there is no way i should be working. Personal Independence Payments awarded me but an unqualified ESA interviewer said NO. A year of hell later and I won, luckily i didn't have a heart attack in the bathroom before my appeal.
18 people found this review helpful
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Chris Price
February 19, 2017
Having been within the benefits system a few times in my lifetime I can really relate to I, Daniel Blake. The film is from the experience of friends, family & myself a very true to life telling of the benefits system horror story. The system really needs to be sorted, yet be fair to the REAL people that need the help. I have before needed the help & direction for getting myself in the right direction of retraining to help get the job I would like to do, but was instead just aimed toward getting any job, no matter how far from my job goals it was, that way I get off their books & paying tax & NI for the country. It's a shame though that this hasn't made more of a bang within the UK to get the problem noticed even more.
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