Director Ken Loach has reflected on his 2016 film I, Daniel Blake, saying that while the film questioned whether food banks were tolerable, they have since become an 'institution' in British society. The film, which follows a carpenter struggling to navigate the benefits system, highlighted the plight of those reliant on emergency food aid.
Loach recalled that the scene where Katie, played by Hayley Squires, eats cold baked beans from a tin at a food bank was based on a true story told to screenwriter Paul Laverty. 'We were asking whether food banks are tolerable. Now they're an institution in society,' Loach said. 'It's extraordinary that we accept that people will starve unless they get food from a charity.'
The director described the political climate at the time as one of 'mean-spiritedness', where vulnerable people were 'vilified' and punished for needing support. He noted that former Tory minister Damian Green dismissed the film as 'a work of fiction', but Loach insisted that while characters are fictional, 'all the stories are true, the essence is true'.
Squires, who was cast for her 'authenticity, truth, belief and warmth', said she was given only pages of the script a day or two in advance and worked chronologically. She learned about the food bank scene four days before shooting and visited a real food bank to speak with a user, feeling a 'sense of responsibility' to portray it truthfully.
The scene was shot just twice, with only Squires aware of the full plan. 'It felt like a shared secret,' Loach said. 'And it worked. It felt very, very real.' The film remains a stark reminder of the human cost of austerity, with food bank use continuing to rise across the UK.
