The Old Oak Review | A Masterpiece of Compassion
The Old Oak, which is likely Ken Loach's final film, provides an emotional look at Syrian refugees in an old British mining town.
Beyond being one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, Ken Loach is undoubtedly one of the most compassionate, at least in the etymological sense of the word. Compassion quite literally means 'to suffer with' or 'to suffer together' from the old Latin (passio or passus leading to passion, and hence 'the passion of Christ'). Loach's films portray a lot of suffering, certainly, but he reminds us how much solidarity and power can form when people choose to suffer together rather than apart, alone in their own silos of misery. His new film, The Old Oak, is a perfect swan song to a career exploring these themes.
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