The Spirit Of '45

THE SPIRIT OF '45

Director : Ken Loach

Year : 2013

Genre : Documentary

Rating : ***1/2

I am at heart, a true British patriot. I feel that we have the greatest history, culture and people on the planet and I am fiercely proud of my English heritage. However, 'The Spirit Of '45' paints a picture that shows that there was a time when Britain was truly 'great' and that since the rise of Thatcherism, we have lost a huge part of our social identity, comradeship and community. Tracing back to the 1945 election win for Clement Atlee  to the present day coalition government, 'The Spirit Of '45' is a moving, sometimes infuriating documentary that shows things really were better back then and that, at the end of the day, money truly speaks louder than words.

1945. Britain is recovering from the deep wounds left by the aftermath of the Second World War and morale is low. Thousands are dead and millions of homes are destroyed throughout the land. However, hope is on the horizon in the form of Labour leader Clement Atlee, whose promise of a socialist country is too good to turn down. Within months of a landslide election the National Health Service is formed to rid the cities of vermin and disease, dozens of industries are nationalised and millions of jobs are created. People are happy and crime falls to an all time low. Unfortunately, these joyous and peaceful times are not to last and in 1979, everything changes...

Famed for his socially and politically charged films, Ken Loach has become one of the most important and highly praised British directors of our time. From 'Route Irish' to 'The Angels Share' to 'Kes', Loach has succeeded in showing his true socialistic attitudes on screen without ever seeming pushy or naggy. 'The Spirit Of '45' is yet another example of this and throughout the documentary, his political views are in plain view for all to see. Using interviews with the retired working class, historians and politicians from the past and the present, Loach is able to create an air of nostalgia and longing in a very powerful way. Filmed entirely in black and white, the director is able to pull the audience right into the past and conversely with the help of astonishing archive footage, Loach brings the 1940's and '50's right into the dynamic present. As a result of these seemingly impossible achievements, 'The Spirit Of '45' is a timeless chronicle of our country's social, economic and political history.

From miners to nurses, trade union workers to steel workers, Loach interviews many from across the occupational spectrum. Telling anecdotes which are in turn funny, moving and extremely tragic, these interviews are reminiscent of the stories that are synonymous with the elderly of today. Giving the politics and economic situations a human face, Loach is able to make the documentary both informative and very entertaining. This makes 'The Spirit Of '45' so much more than a war documentary, or a political documentary or a social documentary. It is a memorial to a  time that may have been lost but not forgotten; an era when everyone worked for each other and the working class were taken care of. Now thanks to capitalism and privatisation, these idealistic times seem ancient and ones that we may never see again. All for one and one for all indeed.