3 Film Tips About British Gangsters

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On a rainy day in December 2019, the Stockholm Socialist Party was in the North East Derbyshire constituency outside Sheffield, campaigning to elect Jeremy Corbyn as prime minister and oust Boris Johnson from 10 Downing Street.

In December, Great Britain went to the polls for the third time in nearly four years. This in a country divided by Brexit, an issue that unfortunately had a very big impact on the outcome of the election. However, Britain is divided by more than just love and hate for the EU. The country is fundamentally characterised by huge class differences between the rich south and the poor north. It is essentially a strange and somewhat horrific experience that such a successful country in so many ways is also fundamentally dysfunctional. Some 14 million Britons live below the poverty line, including 4 million children.

Participating in this election campaign made a strong impression on me. One of the events that struck me most was when, in the final stages of the election campaign, the Labour Party invited the public to the House of Commons to watch Ken Loach’s new film, Sorry We Missed You, about the real-life daily life of a working-class family in Newcastle, where the father has to get a corporate job and all that entails. It was not a happy film, but it was an important portrayal of everyday British life. After the film, the whole room erupted in tears and Ken Loach rose to speak about his thoughts on the film and then took questions and discussion from the audience. Many of the people involved spoke about their daily lives and the similar experiences of their friends.

In order to understand the mission of social democracy and how many people suffer greatly from class differences, it is important to see the so-called “submerged realism” films produced by Ken Loach and others. Here are three important tips on British class society: