Something Old, Something New, and the Ties That Bind

A Brief Commentary & Review of the film, “Sorry We Missed You”
by John Bennison, Mountain Shadow Director

”Fair City dressed in fenestration
She disguised in art how Glasgow made her way.
Noble benefactors … Merchant fathers …
Aye! Trading rich in blood and human bone,
Reaping forth what ill-profit gathers
Our Second City hides her sins in stone.
And the hearts and minds of those who stole the spoils?
Be clearly seen in all our fine gargoyles.”

. .. from a poem by Robert, a Scottish welder-turned-poet, in “Mining Poems or Odes”

When I first saw Ken Loach’s newest film at Mill Valley Film Fest last October, I knew I wanted to share it with our Mountain Shadow audiences when it became available. But litte did I know six months later our world would be turned upside down; with one working-class family’s struggles in this film so powerfully depicting the present socio-economic plight and universal tale we collectively now face world-wide.

While many family units these days are huddled in isolation, there are also those so-called “essential services” that require either those who are desperate enough to need the work, or skilled healthcare professionals who are called to take the risk of exposure. But even if one takes away a viral pandemic, there is still the underlying human story of those countless numbers whose kitchen table issues are all too familiar. The “gig” economy depicted in Loach’s latest film is just an updated variation of a long-standing, common theme for this director.

One could hardly say Loach’s prior film, “I, Daniel Blake” was a happy film; and the same holds true for “Sorry We Missed You.” But the characters portrayed are so well depicted by the actors delivering their well-scripted roles that it all rings true with the kind of authenticity in which a great film truly represents real life.

RIcky is the hardworking father and husband, who is lured into the best of what a self-employed franchisee might hope to gain. Abby is the kind of personal healthcare provider who willingly undertakes those least desirable chores with the kind of gentle humility and generosity the rest of us can only acknowledge as extraordinary. Seb is the typical rebellious adolescent, and his parent’s worst nightmare; but to whom they are also inseparably bound by unconditional love. And Liza is the young darling daughter who has yet to relinquish her dream of a harmonious family that can still find a way to make ends meet.

Last Summer, Mountain Shadow showed a little German film, starring Franz Rogowski, entitled, “In the Aisles.” It was simply a slice of life that may have changed the way some of us look at those of a certain economic status who work an hourly wage in the big box stores. For those of us who find ourselves better off with our own lot in life than the Wilson family in “Sorry We Missed You,” we might allow our imaginations to wonder about others who currently accept the necessity of work the next time an Amazon Prime van, Fed-ex or UPS truck drops off a package.

Last December holiday season, Germaine and I adopted the simple gesture of leaving some bottled waters and basket of leftover Halloween candy outside our front door, along with a ‘Thank You’ sign for those delivering our online orders.

Nowadays, given the present circumstances over possible contamination of such little “gifts,” the best we can do is hang out the ‘Thank You’ sign.

Perhaps we should amend it to read, in addition, “Sorry. We Miss You.” jb