It's a free world (2007)

Ken Loach is an uneven director. You never know whether his film will be great, mediocre or quite awful. It's a free world explores an interesting and important topic - the labor market - but the cinematic qualities did not overwhelm me. The characters remain sketches, the plot feels contrived at times and the whole thing feels like a TV movie. It's the political passion of the story that makes me continue watching. Loach has the heart in the right place and he has an eye for the ailments of contemporary society. But sadly, this political drive is never transformed into the qualities of a good movie. The story follows two young women who set up a recruitment agency in London. The whole thing is quite DYI, and they do not have a licence, so the business takes play on the shadies side of the law, even though their expressed intention is to make business legitimate in time. They try to formulate some rules about what to do and what not to do, but the labor market is a chaotic sphere and business opportunities are business opportunities. So everything is negotiable, and the 'principles' go down the toilet. While Loach makes it clear that the two play in a business that is driven by exploitation and that trying to be moral is far from easy in a world dominated by capitalist interest, the film still relies too much on weepy scenes and sentimental turns. - As often with Loach, I get the impression that he didn't spend as much time on the film as he should have. But I like Loach's analysis, and the title is apt. Yes it's a 'free world', you can do anything you want - but it's nonetheless a  world where workers are exploited, business opportunities are sized and some people make lots of money. Loach offers no false hope, and I am glad he did not present some cheap avenue of resolution.