Sorry We Missed You
06/11/19 Filed in: Cinema
This is not so much a film as an indictment of today's Britain. Sorry We Missed You lays bare the consequences of the GIG economy.
Ricky and Abbie Turner are a young couple with two children. The son Sebastian (Seb) is the epitome of an unruly teenager, while the younger daughter, Lisa, watches on as the stresses within the family build. Ricky has moved from one temporary job to another after losing his job as a result of the fallout from the financial crash in 2008. They were on the cusp of buying a new house but now live in a run-down terrace. Abbie is a carer who visits mainly the elderly, her work ethic being to treat the old ladies as if they each of them were her mum. And she is a very caring person. Life isn't easy.
The film starts with Ricky being interviewed for a job as a delivery driver. Self-employed, he feels that he can break out of the rut. He's a grafter and believes that grafting for himself will be much more rewarding than working for somebody. But as the boss at the delivery company spells out the conditions that will apply to Ricky's work with them (he will work with them, NOT for them), we realise that this is going to be a very one-sided partnership. His first problem is transport. The company will loan him a van for £65 a day, but with encouragement from a pal he reasons that it will be better to buy his own van. Unfortunately this means that Abbie must sell her little car, making her job altogether more difficult as she buses from client (she hates that word!) to client.
Abbie's working day becomes longer because of the need to use buses, while Ricky's day is equally long as he races around delivering the packages and trying to meet one hour delivery time slots, failure to do so resulting in a financial penalty. In fact there are a host of things that result in financial penalties. And if Ricky needs some time off; forget it. Find a replacement driver or pay a financial penalty. And should the handheld device that contains all the package codes, plots the route and tracks Rick's every move be damaged; that's £1000!
If the Turner's life was difficult before Ricky took the job, it becomes almost intolerable as he tries to balance the demands of the job with those of the family. Seb more or less goes off the rails while Lisa suffers bedwetting as she witnesses the deteriorating situation. Abbie desperately tries to keep things on an even keel but despite her amazing composure even she ultimately cracks.
This is not a film you enjoy. It is a film that informs. It makes you realise, if you didn't know already, how so many people are suffering in this country at the moment. GIG might be good for a small number of people but we see that for a family like the Turners it is destructive and bordering on inhumane.
This film should be compulsory viewing for every MP, but having watched a woman from a right-wing think tank trying to defend GIG, in the presence of Ken Loach, it becomes clear that some people, because of vested interests, will never accept that there's a problem. Such people, of course, live in nice houses, have good jobs, probably with generous pensions, and are likely never to have experienced deprivation at any time during their lives.
If the Turner's life was difficult before Ricky took the job, it becomes almost intolerable as he tries to balance the demands of the job with those of the family. Seb more or less goes off the rails while Lisa suffers bedwetting as she witnesses the deteriorating situation. Abbie desperately tries to keep things on an even keel but despite her amazing composure even she ultimately cracks.
This is not a film you enjoy. It is a film that informs. It makes you realise, if you didn't know already, how so many people are suffering in this country at the moment. GIG might be good for a small number of people but we see that for a family like the Turners it is destructive and bordering on inhumane.
This film should be compulsory viewing for every MP, but having watched a woman from a right-wing think tank trying to defend GIG, in the presence of Ken Loach, it becomes clear that some people, because of vested interests, will never accept that there's a problem. Such people, of course, live in nice houses, have good jobs, probably with generous pensions, and are likely never to have experienced deprivation at any time during their lives.