Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.0

I, Daniel Blake Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov March 11, 2018

Ken Loach's "I, Daniel Blake" (2016) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The supplemental features on the disc inlcude an original trailer for the film; collection of deleted scenes; Louise Osmond's documentary "Versus: The Life and Films of Ken Loach", audio commentary featuring the director and screenwriter Paul Laverty; and more. The release also arrives with an illustrated leaflet featuring an essay by critic Girish Shambu and technical credits. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

Daniel

The horror story that is told in Ken Loach’s latest film should not be surprising. In the United Kingdom, when it comes to the well-being of its citizens there is hardly any difference between the views of the two main parties that are usually tasked to form a government after each election cycle. Excluding a few very small nuances as to precisely how it should be done, they both believe that the government must be in charge with the nation’s health care system. Excluding some slightly more meaningful disagreements, the two parties also believe that the government must be in charge with the nation’s entire benefits system. In other words, there is a common understanding that the government is the right entity to protect all, and especially the most vulnerable, of its citizens.

It sounds so comforting, so just and humane -- until you realize that, by default, the very same government also has the power to pull the plug on every single one of the benefits that it supposedly guarantees to its citizens.

Of course the government has to be creative so that it does not hurt its image if it chooses to do so, but that is just a minor element of the game that the politicians that serve it are trained to play. Remember, they don’t disprove the game -- the two main parties that the overwhelming majority of these politicians come from only disagree on some of the rules that ought to define the game. The rest is just optics for the poor souls at the very bottom of the social ladder that are brainwashed to believe that their government actually cares about them.

In Ken Loach’s latest film one such poor soul (Dave Johns) becomes aware of the game after he suffers a heart attack and attempts to file for social benefits. All sorts of local entry-level ‘referees’ then begin bouncing him from one office to another and demand that he does a variety of stupid things to prove to them that he deserves to be helped. Eventually, after he sells all of his valuable belongings so that he can feed himself while his claim is processed, he is allowed to appear in front of the proper committee that would determine his fate, but sadly runs out of time.

It is understandable why Loach has directed yet another film in which he channels his frustration with the manner in which his country treats those that need to be helped the most, but the current state of affairs there is hardly surprising. In fact, there is a great deal of irony in this film because for quite some time now -- think many decades -- it has been crystal clear to plenty of folks that do not share the director’s political views that the United Kingdom’s socialized welfare system is bound to collapse. Frankly, unless some fundamental changes are made, and very quickly, things are actually going to get a lot uglier there as more and more people begin to discover just how serious the crisis is. (For example, earlier this year the British government-run National Health Service just flat-out canceled 50,000 nonemergency surgeries. And of course, just like in Loach’s film, the government also determined what does and does not qualify to be tagged ‘nonemergency’. You can read detailed reports about the decision here and here).

Johns is marvelous as the ill carpenter who slowly begins to realize that his government has a giant bag of tricks that it can use to reject his claim. His frustration and anger feel very authentic. Hayley Squires, who plays a disillusioned single mother that accidentally befriends him while also trying to survive on her own, is equally impressive.

I, Daniel Blake Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Ken Loach's I, Daniel Blake arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion.

The following text appears inside the leaflet provided with this Blu-ray release:

"This digital transfer, supervised by Ken Loach, was created in 2K resolution on a Northlight film scanner from the 35mm original camera negative. Final color correction was performed using Baselight. The 5.1 soundtrack was remastered from the original digital audio master file using Pro Tools HD.

Colorist: Gareth Spensley/Monlinare, London."

The use of natural light is quite pronounced throughout the entire film. As a result, there are some minor fluctuations in terms of depth and clarity. (Anyone familiar with director Loach's style is unlikely to be surprised by this). This being said, delineation and fluidity are outstanding. The color balance is also very convincing, though it needs to be said that overall there is a tendency to favor slightly cooler but still natural primaries and nuances. There are no purely digital anomalies to report in our review. Image stability is excellent. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

I, Daniel Blake Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature.

As it is the case with the overwhelming majority of Ken Loach's films, the original sound design of I, Daniel Blake incorporates a wide variety of organic sounds and noises and its overall dynamic intensity is rather modest. Also, you should not expect to hear any meaningful surround movement. The dialog is very clean and stable, but my guess is that some viewers will end up using the optional English SDH subtitles because some of the accents are quite thick.

I, Daniel Blake Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Old Trailer - original U.S. trailer for I, Daniel Blake. In English, not subtitled. (3 min).

• Deleted Scenes - a collection of scenes that did not make the final cut of I, Daniel Blake. In English, not subtitled. (8 min).
  
  1. Outside the job center
  2. The decision maker
  3. Roll call
  4. Work summaries
  5. A sanctioned man
  6. Handing out the CV
  7. Reading the classifieds
  8. On the street
  9. Playing a joke

• Versus: The Life and Films of Ken Loach - this documentary film, directed by Louise Osmond in 2016, examines the career and legacy of director Ken Loach. In English, not subtitled. (94 min).
  
  1. How the world is
  2. Stirring up trouble
  3. Fact or fiction?
  4. "What is the core of the story?"
  5. Observation filmmaking
  6. Jim Allen
  7. Working with the BBC
  8. Documenting struggle
  9. Perdition
  10. Comeback
  11. The politics of everyday life.

• How to Make a Ken Loach Film - this documentary film focuses on the production history of I, Daniel Blake. In addition to raw footage from the shooting of the film in Tyne, it contains various clips from interviews with dierctor Ken Loach, producer Rebecca O'Brien, and actors Dave Johns and Hayley Squires, amongst others. In English, not subtitled. (39 min).

• Commentary - this audio commentary features director Ken Loach and screenwriter Paul Laverty. The bulk of their observations address the current deep social crisis in the United Kingdom at the time and the manner in which it is revealed through Daniel Blake's story, the shooting process, the leads and their performances, etc.

• Leaflet - an illustrated leaflet featuring critic Girish Shambu's essay "An Authentic Cinema" and technical credits.

I, Daniel Blake Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

There isn't a shortage of pundits and politicians in the United States that love to praise the supposedly humane socialized welfare systems of European countries like the United Kingdom when they try to push their agendas. However, Ken Loach's latest film, I, Daniel Blake, reveals a very different reality that makes it absolutely impossible to argue that the government is the best entity to guarantee a wide range of social benefits for the people. To be honest, however, this isn't exactly groundbreaking news. There are multiple reasons why it has always been the case -- study the history of the countries from the former Soviet Bloc that attempted the same experiment and you will discover a very long list of illuminating reasons -- but the most obvious one is that if the government has the ultimate power to guarantee benefits, then by default it also has the same ability to restrict or flat-out reject them under various manufactured pretexts. This is essentially what the main protagonist of Loach's film discovers after he suffers a heart attack and government officials go to work to force him out of the system. Criterion's recent release of I, Daniel Blake is sourced from a very strong 2K master that was supervised by Loach. RECOMMENDED.