Scanialara You won't be disappointed!

Lawbolisted Powerful

Pluskylang Great Film overall

Voxitype Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Emil Bakkum The films of Ken Loach are always worth the investment in time and attention. Films like this can not be made in Hollywood, where the dominating criterion for production is the financial profit. Even when a Hollywood producer has found a challenging theme, it is usually garbled with sensational and primitive digressions. In the attempt to appeal to easily accessible animal instincts, the average Hollywood films portray selfishness, deceit, aggression and even mass slaughter as desirable qualities. Such films foster a culture, that actually hampers human progress. The films of Ken Loach always address the civilized side of human nature, and allow for fertile self-reflexion. The Navigators is a masterpiece about railway labor, although it appeals probably more to Europeans than to other nationalities. The European railways were socialized a century ago, because the operational efficiency requires a monopoly situation, and private monopolies are a natural source of abuse. Nevertheless, in the eigthies the British Thatcher government decided to reprivatize British Rail. The film describes the effect of the privatization on the personnel of a maintenance depot. The personnel consists of rough workmen, who find pleasure and pride in their profession. When British Rail is cut into pieces, the depot is renamed into East Midland Company, and has to canvass for commissions with Rail Track. Maintenance work comes in batches, and the new management views permanent appointments as superfluous expenses. Perhaps more important, the restructuring allows to eliminate the trade unions, which were strong in the former structure (although apparently not strong enough). New competition is introduced by private firms, who employ temporary personnel and compete for commissions. They pay more on an hourly basis, but spare the costs of training and holiday allowances. Thus the entrepreneurial risks are transferred to the workers. Most important, they dramatically reduce the quality and safety standards. The decent work of the railway depot, once more renamed, this time into Gilchrist Engineering, is no longer appreciated by Rail Track, and Gilchrist runs out of work. Employees are made redundant, and are stimulated by means of bonuses to resign. Subsequently they are hired by the new cowboy firms, through temporary employment agencies (flexible contracts). In the end one of the railway workers dies in an accident, during a job where he is hit by a passing train because the look-out man has been omitted. In this film I like in particular the excellent portrayal of the workman's' culture. You can so to say smell the sweat. The essence is probably the complete bewilderment caused by the privatization, which hits the workers, well, like a train. They lose control over their working environment and income. They land in a world of flex-contracts, where fate is an unknown, even on the short term. Of course they manage to adapt in time, but their lives sink to a lower level of human existence. It is a striking story, which is closely related to this other Ken Loach film "Bread and Roses" about the working poor.

ethanschmeisser I saw the movie today. It is good to know that while in Hollywood the so called entertainment industry wants to send our minds and conscious into sleep, comes a real humanist film maker and serves as a voice of society in a crisis, of real people like all of us that deal with problems that surface everywhere in the world. How men can survive and remain human and moral while fighting in vain in every establishment, including ones that suppose to help the individual. It is not just a Marxist manifesto but rather a compassion, loving, caring and worried look at a group of people that want to survive in a world that is changing rapidly economically and morally. You'll laugh with them, get frustrated with them and feel pity for them when they make the wrong choice (if such a thing can be defined). As always with Loach's films, it's so reliable that you immediately feel that the characters are a part of your life and there are no actors and no movie - just a look at familiar people who struggle to keep their jobs against a system that doesn't really care for its human resources and by that hurt them and herself. It is really touching and heart-tearing as much as loving with even quite a lot bits of humor which make it more credible. A real must!

Jose E This is by no means a movie to be seen for pure entertainment,. This is a REALISTIC movie, so those looking for kicks stay away. Otherwise you will be so disappointed.I like this movie so much, especially since is the type of movie Hollywood would NEVER make. It sharply portraits how bad working conditions have gotten over the years (which is something I have witnessed firsthand). Treating people like dirt and firing them without a reason have become an end it itself. Watching this film takes you to the core of what's going on at most workplaces, which obviously won't delight those who think life is pretty, because it ain't. Put your feet on the ground and search for that beauty - you are not going to find it in the treatment workers are getting anywhere. This is the real world, people, whether we like it or not.While seeing this movie, never did I feel I was in the cinema. I could relate to what the characters were going through.Of course the movie has no happy end, but if it did would be unreal.10/10.

Janita Dusbee Since I was in Florence by the time I saw this movie, and since the walls of my hotel were not very thicker than 1 inch, and since my neihgbours were noisy beyond range, and since this was about the most boring movie I have ever seen, I can't imagine myself sleeping deeper than this. The Odeon Cinema in Florence has a really magnificent ceiling, the chairs are comfortable but their color is disgusting, and the Italian people surrounding me were very silent. The only thing making any sound at all were the people mumbling somethin on the screen (when you're Dutch, like I am, and haven't slept for days, it's really hard to understand.) By no means I feel the need to be rude, but I was waiting for someone to die for the entire time, and when it finally, finally happened, the movie ended.This could all have been an episode from a very dreadful soap, but you usually don't pay money to see soaps. Other images, like the ice-skating couple or the three-legged dog, are distracting. The only thing good about the movie, in my opinion, was the acting - everything BUT over-acted. But it actually ruins the film even more, since over-acting would have brought some suspense to the film. Yelling, crying, hugging, things that would ruin most movies I like, would actually have kept me really awake. THe only reason preventing me from complete relaxation, was the fact that I was the one who had to write a rapport about the film. In short: do not attempt to copy if you happen to be a film-maker. I heard on several occasions that Ken Loach's work is great, but after seeing this, I think I'll let the opportunity to see more of his work, pass.