Ken Loach and Sophie Binet Discuss Capitalism and Social Justice at Montreuil Event

In Montreuil, Monday October 2 evening, after the screening of his latest feature film “The Old Oak”, the British filmmaker spoke for an hour with the general secretary of the CGT.

Out Ken and Barbie, in Ken and Sophie. The English filmmaker Ken Loach and the number 1 of the CGT, Sophie Binet met on Monday October 2 at the Méliès, the public multiplex in Montreuil (Seine-Saint-Denis), for what was presented as a “debate”. In the jostling line, we wonder: will we be able to find differences of opinion between these two?

Throughout his work, the 87-year-old British filmmaker has never stopped attacking – more or less subtly – the ravages of capitalism. Through his last two feature films, he has addressed the commodification and privatization of public services (I, Daniel Blake, awarded gold at Cannes in 2016) and uberization (Sorry We Missed You, 2019). In The Old Oak (released October 25), screened Monday evening, it is a dual migration crisis and deindustrialization that is at issue. Nothing which a priori risks putting the octogenarian in direct opposition to Sophie Binet, 41, new general secretary of a CGT which has been invigorated since her election at its head in March.

In a packed room overheated by the lack of air conditioning, the two arrive to applause. Ken Loach gave his instructions: the exchange will be done standing up, it is more dynamic. He, blue shirt, gray jacket, and indelible smile, is accompanied by his longtime screenwriter, Paul Laverty. She, wearing an orange top and flowered skirt, came with Cheikh Camara, former leader of a strike of undocumented workers.

“Profits, greed and individualism”

We quickly understand that the announced debate will not take place. Everyone is in their own lane and, above all, both agree on everything. The two guests answer questions from Stéphane Goudet, the artistic director of Méliès. Ken Loach ‘honoured’ to speak with workers’ union. For him, the great English miners’ strike of 1984-1985, led by the largest workers’ union in Europe at the time, was “the pivotal moment of [l’histoire anglaise] post-war. Because it was at the moment when “Margaret Thatcher defeated the miners that neoliberalism [d’aujourd’hui] could begin”: “A world of profits, avarice and individualism”, an open door to the “Uberized economy”. Rumor of approval among the public.

At his side, Sophie Binet nods. An excellent communicator, she takes notes on her phone to go over point by point. Machine gun flow, she speaks too quickly for Loach’s interpreter. She praises the old master’s films as “great moments of cinema” and “lessons in struggle.” The Old Oak, which recounts the arrival of Syrian refugees in a stricken town in the north-east of England, “still puts its finger on the central question of today, namely how neoliberalism organizes the rise of ‘extreme right’ with the competition between poor workers and the search for even weaker ‘scapegoats’. “A film like that is worth 100,000 leaflets,” she greets after having accused Emmanuel Macron, and his “deliberate strategy” to raise the French extreme right by “trivializing it in the public debate” and systematically dismissing it to “a so-called extreme left”.

Smiles and nods: unsurprisingly, Ken Loach approves. After a few questions from the audience on how he shot The Old Oak, the filmmaker calls the audience to its feet despite the climate crisis, despite the negligence of political leaders, despite the rise of racism almost everywhere in the world. “Hope is political. We can win,” he says. After all these years, his fist is still raised.

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