Ken Loach - The Navigators (2001)

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Review (James Berardinelli, ReelViews)
Ken Loach's The Navigators is a hard-as-nails drama that, instead of offering
viewers an escape from reality, forces them to face some of the colder facts
about living in today's world. Loach's subject isn't terrorism, but something
equally destructive and far more insidious - the way big businesses routinely
discard faithful employees, rewarding long-term loyalty with a few weeks'
severance pay and a cheerful goodbye. This is the kind of subject matter that
will strike home painfully for many men and women in today's work force. And,
while Loach includes occasional flashes of humor, this is predominantly a grim
motion picture.

Loach has always been know as a filmmaker with a social conscience, as one look
at his resume (which includes such titles as Riff-Raff, Ladybird, Ladybird, My
Name Is Joe, and Bread and Roses) indicates. The Navigators fits in well with
Loach's past efforts. The sense of character is not as strong here as it has
been in the director's best outings (none of the protagonists in The Navigators
is developed into a fully fleshed-out individual), but the issues are as
clearly presented and thought-provoking as ever.

The movie deals specifically with the privatization of British Rail, which
transpired during the mid-1990s, but the themes explored by Loach apply to
countless other industries in today's world. The idea of company loyalty died
with the '80s. Today, it's every man (or woman) for himself (or herself), as
prized employees bounce from company to company, depending upon who offers
the best salary and benefits. Meanwhile, "generic" workers often find themselves
turned loose for no reason whatsoever, their job inexplicably "eliminated".

In 1995, British Rail left government control and the portion in South
Yorkshire became East Midland Infrastructure. The employees were subjected to
new buzz words and theories. Customer Satisfaction replaced safety and
efficiency as the #1 priority. A "mission statement" was developed. And
employees were subjected to demeaning and pedantic training films. Soon,
workers found themselves facing uncertain futures with jobs that could be
eliminated any day. High quality became a victim of the obsessive need to cut
costs. Loach allows us to see the shortsightedness of these management policies
without ever launching into a didactic sermon. He doesn't have to - we
instinctively believe everything we see on screen because many of us have
experienced this in our everyday work environment.

As is typically the case, Loach coaxes effective performance out of unknown
actors. This is one way he keeps the films more real and immediate, believing
that familiar faces can distort the gritty, near-documentary style he prefers.
The Navigators would have been a more powerful feature had we developed a
stronger emotional connection with one or more of the characters (we see
occasional snapshots of their home lives, but nothing substantive), but, even
as it is, this is a worthwhile motion picture whose central topic will resonate
with many who see it.