A very weak film

I watched this film on Channel 4 the other night. My mom went to the Ken Loach seminar last week where they screened the film and Ken Loach did a Q&A about it. She loved it. I wish I went because there were alot of questions about the film that I needed answering, which might have prevented me from disliking it so much.

Loach didn't write the film, thank god. I like that guy, so by not writing it, he's slightly redeemed himself. I thought 'It's a Free World' was very poorly written... I felt as though the dialogue was trying to be 'overly' real, resulting in a very un-natural and stiff script, which no matter how good the acting and execution of the words, could not be pulled off. I came to the conclusion that the screenplay was written by a 15 year old High School student with a vague interest in politics and the current issues in immigration, as the had a very 'high school play' feel to it.

The story and idea for the film was great, although I felt it moved about 600mph too fast... not giving the viewer much of a chance to get to know important characters which I think left the message of film ineffective.

There were some great moments though, and the camera work and direction were flawless, and created a beautifully captivating environment, but still could not save the film from the very weak script and the overlly fast plot.

I much prefer Nick Broomfield's 'Ghosts' as an example of a film portraying such dark and politically charged subject matter. Although 'Ghosts' was primarily about the Morecambe Bay tragedy, the film documented the journey of a group of illegal Chinese immigrants and their working prospects here in the UK, as you can see, that is where the similarity lies between 'It's a Free World' and 'Ghosts', the latter being the more effective and powerful film.