Film Forum

U.K., 1991
Directed by Ken Loach
With Robert Carlyle, Ricky Tomlinson, Emer McCourt
Approx. 95 mins. DCP.

"Centers on a construction job in London, where 19th century housing, recently renting for very little, is being renovated into town homes for the rich. The workers on the job are nomadic and homeless; many come from outside London and live in 'squats,' or empty flats that they open with a crowbar. Their boss is a loud, aggressive site manager whose threats mostly involve his cheerful willingness to fire them. The men form a rough camaraderie on the job, held together by a certain pride in their labor and a mutual hatred of the contractors and developers — who are cutting corners in every way they can, including safety. We also see them off the job, in pubs and in their squats, and eventually it sinks in that they don't see much future in their work or their lives, and view Britain as a society that excludes them.” – Roger Ebert

Reviews

“Loach makes his characters funny, resilient, and bitterly alive. Comedy doesn’t cut much closer to the bone.”
– Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly