Ken Loach paints a vivid portrait of the drama of ordinary life

The prolific British director Ken Loach has been making films for 30 years as a sort of niche auteur, focusing on working class socialist realism. He was slogging away in the cinematic trenches when he hit his stride in the 1990s, with films like “Riff Raff” and “Raining Stone.” Then in 2016, Loach won the film award that I most respect, the Palme d’Or at Cannes, with “I, Daniel Blake.”

This film is the antithesis of a Marvel Comics film: It the reality you see around you, writ large, emotionally charged with few histrionics. This is absolutely a film for our times. It is a story of the underclass, but all those portrayed will be very familiar to viewers of any class. They are us – despite the occasionally tough Kentish accents.

The story is simple. Sixty-ish widower Daniel Blake has had a heart attack, and he tries to apply for the British version of SSI while he recovers. A carpenter by trade, he is both eager to get back to work and totally lost in the maze of bureaucracy. Told he must apply online, he admits he’s never used a computer. You know this person. The low level functionaries in the bureaucracy run the gamut from badge-hanger bullies to sympathetic underclass escapees, small roles vividly portrayed. In the assistance office, Daniel meets Katie, a penniless single mom with two kids. With no job and no family, Daniel turns father protector for Katie, fixing up her slum apartment, watching the kids, reclaiming his dignity.

The acting is both naturalistic and gripping. Dave Johns as Daniel is a working man version of British stiff upper lip, not one for a lot of conversation or complaint. You know this man, and his struggle for dignity as a piece that doesn't fit into the future is all too familiar in a world full of disruptive innovation. As Katie, Hayley Squires steals scene after scene with her controlled anguish and gritty determination. The scene where Daniel, Katie and the kids finally go to a foodbank has more drama than any gunfight – the film is a winner for this one scene alone. You can't help but care about these people.