The Old Oak

Ken Loach: The Old Oak (GB 2023), starring Ebla Mari (Yara, a Syrian refugee) and Dave Turner (TJ Ballantyne, owner of the pub The Old Oak).

The Old Oak / The Old Oak

    BE/FR/GB 2023. PC: Sixteen Films / Why Not Productions / Les Films du Fleuve / BBC Film. P: Rebecca O'Brien.

    D: Ken Loach. SC: Paul Laverty. DP: Robbie Ryan. M: George Fenton. ED: Jonathan Morris.

    Loc: County Durham (Murton, Horden, Easington, Durham Cathedral).

    113 min

    Festival premiere: 26 May 2023 Cannes

    Finnish premiere 8 Dec 2023, released by Cinemanse Oy with Finnish / Swedish subtitles by Ilse Rönnberg / Charlotte Elo. 

    Viewed at Tennispalatsi LUXE 6, Helsinki, 20 Jan 2024.

Filmikamari Pressit: " The Old Oak sai ensi-iltansa Cannesin elokuvafestivaalin kilpasarjassa 2023. Ken Loachin omien sanojen mukaan hänen viimeinen elokuvansa tiivistää useasti palkitun ohjaajan koko pitkän uran kattavat yhteiskunnalliset teemat. Loachin ja käsikirjoittaja Paul Lavertyn testamentti on elokuvassa kirjailtu kaivostyöläisten banderolliin: yhteisöllisyyden voima, solidaarisuus ja vastarinta. "

" Kun entiseen kaivoskaupunkiin Englannissa majoitetaan syyrialaisia pakolaisia, kuihtuvan kylän ainoan jäljellä olevan pubin, The Old Oakin tuoppien ääressä alkavat tunteet kuohua. Sodan jaloista pakenevat tulijat nähdään uhkana paikallisille, joilla on yllin kyllin omiakin ongelmia. Valokuvaajan urasta haaveileva nuori Yara (Ebla Mari) kuitenkin ystävystyy pubin isännän TJ:n (Dave Turner) kanssa ja hitaasti erilaiset ihmiset alkavat löytää tiensä saman pöydän ääreen. "

The press kit: " The Old Oak is a special place. Not only is it the last pub standing, it is the only remaining public space where people can meet in a once thriving mining community that has now fallen on hard times after 30 years of decline. TJ Ballantyne (Dave Turner) the landlord hangs on to The Old Oak by his fingertips, and his hold is endangered even more when The Old Oak becomes contested territory after the arrival of Syrian refugees who are placed in the village. In an unlikely friendship TJ encounters a young Syrian, Yara (Ebla Mari) with her camera. Can they find a way for the two communities to understand each other? So unfolds a deeply moving drama about loss, fear and the difficulty of finding hope. "

AA: We live in a period in which old masters are producing some of their best work. Think about the achievements last year by Wim Wenders and Martin Scorsese, for instance. Ken Loach stunned the world almost 60 years ago with Cathy Come Home and is still at the top of his game with topical, relevant and engrossing films such as Sorry We Missed You and now The Old Oak. It is a masterpiece.

Loach is working again with his trusted team of Rebecca O'Brien (producer), Paul Laverty (screenwriter), Robbie Ryan (cinematographer), George Fenton (score) and Jonathan Morris (editing). As usual, Loach shoots on location, this time in County Durham, North England, not far from Scotland. The milieu is a former flourishing mining community now struggling for its existence. 

The Old Oak pub sustains what is left of the community spirit. It was once the heart of "strength, solidarity, resistance", now degrading into suspicion, isolation, impotence and racism. A busload of Syrian refugees inflames the hatred of a vicious group, while other inhabitants display generosity to war victims who have lost everything.

Upon her arrival, a racist young man breaks the camera of a young Syrian refugee, Yara. The camera is her only valuable possession, and the pub owner TJ Ballantyne, who would prefer to stay out of controversy, nevertheless helps Yara to have her camera fixed.

Angry young racists cultivate vicious dogs, and those dogs attack and kill TJ's little dog Marra, his only friend. We learn from TJ that "marra" in northern English miners' language of the 19th century means "mate", "best friend", complementing each other and fitting together well. The death of Marra is a serious blow for TJ.

There is starvation among the Englishmen and the Syrians. Inspired by slogans in the historical photographs in the back room - "They shall not starve", and "When you eat together, you stick together" - Yara and TJ decide to open the back room for community meals. The meals are free for all, and everyone is welcome. The project becomes a huge success and a turning-point in the community spirit. "Solidarity, not charity".

The racist fringe sabotages this by rigging the plumbing. The damage is so devastating that the back room cannot be used anymore. 

Among other things, The Old Oak is a wonderful contribution to the subject "cinema and photography". TJ shows Yara a historical photograph exhibition in the back room. Yara keeps photographing the life and the people of Durham and gains recognition and affection for her family. Yara has talent in portrait photography, because she is able to establish a connection of sympathy with her subjects. When her family learns of the death of their father in the brutal prison circumstances of Syria, a public display of condolences escalates on their doorstep. It grows into an epic display of the better angels of our nature.

A memorable sequence is dedicated to a visit to Durham Cathedral, familiar in the cinema from Harry Potter movies. TJ takes Yara there as they fetch a charity delivery. The sequence conveys powerfully the spirit of the sacred in the medieval monument of worship. It is an encounter of supreme respect between two religious worlds.

"Shukran" is "thank you" in Arabic, as Yara teaches TJ in The Old Oak. It is also what a grateful viewer would wish to tell to the film-makers:

"Shukran!"