Sorry We Missed You (2019)
- Corey Bulloch
- Nov 13, 2019
- 5 min read
Updated: Dec 18, 2019
★★★★
Hoping that self-employment through gig economy can solve their financial woes, a hard-up UK delivery driver and his wife struggling to raise a family end up trapped in the vicious circle of this modern-day form of labour exploitation.
Classification: 15
Escapism, that's what most seek when watching a film, to witness a story larger than life, tales of heroes and villains, or dramatic recreations of historical events. Even when films go for realism there is still a sheen to the process, a movie star in makeup, a melodramatic speech addressing the themes and still a subconscious feeling of comfort that the events before you are amplified for the cinematic medium. With Ken Loach, however, his cinematic realism goes beyond this realm giving a more unsettling believable feeling beyond that of a documentary. Because of his direction and Paul Laverty's screenplay, Sorry We Missed You captures our harsh reality through meticulous design, making its condemnations even more striking.
There isn't a single moment of inauthenticity to Loach's latest film capturing in heartbreaking detail the modern realities of zero-hour contracts and inhumane labour practices against long-suffering families. Following the story of Ricky Turner, a family man who lost his financial stability in the 2008 economic crash believes that investing in a gig economy job as a delivery driver would give him the independence and capital needed to give his family the much-needed support. Ricky's supervisor Maloney explains the ethical workarounds such as that Ricky is not "an employee" but a "contractor" and that he's "self-employed" through their parcel delivery force. Essentially if Ricky would ever miss a day of work for any reason, it would cost him money, being fined and sanctioned and risk his place in the roster of drivers working for Maloney. With the immersive world-building, Loach establishes with Ricky's family with storylines concerning his wife Abby, a hard-working and underappreciated nurse along with their son Seb, a delinquent whose growing disruptive behaviour that puts a strain on the family.
The tension of the film works two-fold, both in a traditional narrative sense, that unease of how Ricky's long hours are keeping him away from his family, mixed with Seb's growing adolescence rebellion leading to problems with school and the authorises. Then mixed with the uncomfortable thematic relevance, how tangible and real it all feels due to the sheer power of the performances. Sorry We Missed You is the story of thousands of families in Britain, that are slowly being destroyed by greedy governments and businesses unwilling to play by the rules anymore and treat hardworking people with respect. When the dramatic climaxes strike, with Ricky's world falling apart around him it doesn't feel like a film anymore but a stark and unflinching mirror to how our society treats its lower-class citizens. This unease and guilt within the audience builds to no reprieve, Loach pulls the curtain back and lets you see the full horror of Ricky Turner's story and has you live with it long after the film has ended.
The emotionally brutal narrative taking inspiration from the true story of Don Lane, a courier who died while working for parcel delivery service DPD for skipping hospital appointments for his diabetes because he couldn't afford to pay the fines for missing work. Loach and Laverty show in soul-crushing, empathetic detail how people are becoming de-humanised, the idea of Ricky having to be a father and husband before a being a delivery driver is punished. Ross Brewster who plays in his own words "nasty bastard" Maloney gives an incredible monologue how everything is in servitude to the handheld delivery scanner, it is essentially God planning the routes and giving times for Ricky's deliveries, controlling every decision made within the company. Ricky is not a person to this algorithm, it does not account for emotion or pain, there are quotas to be met and if Ricky can't meet them he shall be destroyed both financially and mentally.
Loach's approach to realism wouldn't be half as devastating without his phenomenal cast, each actor completely vanishing into their role leaving nothing but the pure verisimilitude of truth. Kris Hitchen and Debbie Honeywood astound as Ricky and Abby respectively, capturing the stress of the edge point they find themselves on constantly telling themselves that it will soon get better, that their never-ending crucible will be for something. It's the hollow belief for better days that drive them but it's amazing to see Honeywood's character so desperate that she breaks down when one of her patients shows her the smallest piece of affection; a reminder that she is still a human being, not a drone. Loach builds the tragedy of Sorry We Missed You by condemning this automatisation of people through having the actors display the many nuanced features of their characters but also show how that these unique features are being destroyed by society's unforgiving nature. There are few moments where the Turners are allowed to be a family where Ricky and Abby can live and laugh with their children before their phones go off with the next unescapable shift. Even Ricky is punished when he brings his daughter along for deliveries, the very notion of Ricky performing both roles at once is scandalous.
Ricky is reconstructed as a driver, Abby as a nurse, and Seb as a vandal as his turbulent behaviour sees him branded as a hoodlum. Rhys Stone's performance as Seb is incredible, especially when acting against Katie Proctor who plays little Lisa Jane Turner. Ricky and Abby's goals like any parent is to build a better life for their children but it is a losing battle with their hours forcing them away leaving Lisa Jane to become defacto homemaker and Seb left to his own devices. Their noble efforts are futile because Ricky's sacrifices to keep his family together end up just tearing it apart, a snake that eats itself but all perpetuated by a system that couldn't care less by the damage it creates. Bit by bit humanity is stripped from them until it becomes an impossible choice for Ricky; continue to work or continue to live with both choices costing him everything.
Sorry We Missed You is an unforgiving damnation of Britain's failings towards its working-class citizens but Ricky's story can resonate with anyone as his plight is not an exclusive problem to one country. Across the globe, people are forced to make a horrible choice to choose between working themselves to death or live in poverty and Loach refuses to use cinema to give audiences an out in addressing this problem. There is no happy ending, no solution in some dramatic speech about love and family, just bleak, bitter reality that the audience is forced to reckon with in the agonizing and traumatic final scenes. Ken Loach has you look into this merciless existence for so many then silently asks you if you can live with it as the credits roll.
Director: #KenLoach
Release Date: November 1st 2019
Trailer:
Written review copyright ©CoreyBullochReviews
Images and Synopsis from the Internet Movie Database
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