Ken Loach Can’t Get No

By Memo Salazar 

Many years ago, when I was a wee lad working in a video store, amongst all the films that opened my mind in many directions, there existed six filmmakers that captured my heart as well. One of them was Ken Loach- a somewhat obscure Brit who’s strong, clear politics and ethics helped him transcend the world of BBC television into that of feature films. Though he remains one of the greatest filmmakers of the past 3 decades, his name- and body of work- remains largely unknown. You’d think that winning the 2006 Palme d’Or at Cannes would have changed all that, and perhaps it did in Europe, but not here in the good ol’ US of A, around which, as we all know, the universe revolves.

I live in New York City- arguably the “cultural capital” of this country, where one can watch obscure art films all week without running out of options… yet even here, Loach’s latest masterpiece (and I do mean masterpiece) is playing on just one screen- one small screen. The show I attended, in fact, found the theater merely half full. Half full? Where the hell are my fellow art-loving New Yorkers? And where the hell is the rest of the country?

Ken Loach’s The Wind That Shakes the Barley is certainly deserving of Cannes’ top award- moreso than Pulp Fiction, and undoubtedly moreso than Fahrenheit 9-11, both of which have received this award in past years and went on to become huge hits with critics and crowds all over the world. The Wind… is a powerful, moving, universal story of two brothers and the ideological clashes they encounter. It’s a historical film, shedding light on the rarely-discussed Irish Revolution and how the IRA was born; yes, Loach is unapologetically left-wing, but he’s so good at showing why his politics lie where they do that his compassion for humanity is impossible to resist. You’d have to be incredibly dense or closed-minded to watch one of his thoughtful, well-argued films (especially this thoughtful, well-argued film) and not understand where the man and the people he speaks for are coming from. Loach is especially adept at putting himself in the shoes of the everyman and helping us understand the small details of human existence that feed into the greater political context being discussed. He makes you feel quite deeply, and then he makes you think just as critically, in the hopes that such a combination will bring forth the truth of the matter at hand.

Perhaps, if American audiences had been given such a chance, their minds might have expanded just a tad more while watching this film… but, whether it was poor marketing or a glut of other releases or who knows what, The Wind That Shakes the Barley has arrived on our shores with barely whisper. Usually “Winner - Palme D’Or 2006″ is all you need to garner an overwhelming amount of art-film media buzz, so where was the art-film media buzz? Where was the hype machine that usually inflates mediocre films into can’t-live-without successes? Why does our culture go nuts over shit like Napoleon Dynamite instead? I know, I know, the answer’s pretty obvious. But still, if you have any desire left to learn, grow, and feel something more than a cheap thrill, watch any of Ken Loach’s amazing films and gain a greater understanding of your fellow man. Sweet Sixteen, Land and Freedom, Hidden Agenda, Ladybird, Ladybird… netflix any of these brilliant films by Ken Loach, and give this septuagenarian artist a little satisfaction in his twilight years. He’s struggled long enough.