Ken Loach has remained one of the most politically minded filmmakers for decades. Although his films almost never deal specifically with politics, the characters are always affected by social inequity, turning his films into heartfelt but objective sociopolitical essays.
Trying to peg what makes a Ken Loach movie “a Ken Loach movie” is difficult, given that he never relies on stylistic choices to help us determine his auteurship. Yet, once we’re watching the action unfold, the characters evolve in front of us, and the plot turns bittersweet; we know it…this is why The Angels’ Share initially confuses.
Loach’s films are never really funny, but there is a deep humanism that unavoidably leads to moments that make us laugh. The Angels; Share begins like most of his films: we meet a down-on-his-luck man named Robbie (Paul Brannigan), who, in the very first scene, gets sentenced to providing hours of community service for a small crime.
Within the next few scenes, we see Robbie’s girlfriend (Siobhan Reilly) give birth to their child, her relatives assault him, and we only assume things will get worse after that. The surprise is that they don’t; Mr. Loach pulls the rug from under us and delivers a film we can call a comedy. To put it more straightforwardly, this is his Ocean’s Eleven, complete with a heist! The mention of a gloriously capitalistic film like the all-star caper featuring the biggest names in Hollywood, next to one of Mr. Loach’s socialist films, must sound like blasphemy to some. Still, The Angels’ Share might be one of the lightest films he’s ever made (in terms of plot). And all of this is praise! It’s not that the director is letting go of his “stricter” values; it’s just that he’s found a way to be charming and playful about them.
The plot centers on how Robbie realizes he can differentiate whisky and develops a plan to steal and resell the contents of a priceless cask known as the “Malt Mill”. A series of hilarious episodes ensues, and we see the director at his most delightful. The Angels’ Share allows him to use his keen eye for social injustice and put it at the service of a story that never seems intent on depressing or teaching us something. The main difference between this and something like Ocean’s Eleven, for example, is the reasons behind the heist. Where one suggests a life of crime equates to a life of glamour and decadence, the other asks what social circumstances led characters to believe a life of theft was the only way out.
Loach’s cinema has never been didactic, but his films have always had a sense of larger-than-life importance. Because he is so good at capturing the greatness found in the “smallest” human beings, his films can’t help but feel grand in a contained manner. The work of his actors in this film is remarkable, especially Brannigan as the easily excitable Robbie and Roger Allam as a whisky collector.
With a moving screenplay by frequent collaborator Paul Laverty and efficient cinematography by Robbie Ryan, The Angels’ Share can remove you from your troubles and serve as escapism while offering a snapshot of how modern economies are paving the way for poverty. At the same time, the privileged continue to become richer and richer. This unexpectedly serves us when we learn the film’s title: essentially, the part of liquor lost in the casket due to evaporation. In The Angels’ Share, Loach asks us what these self-entitled “angels” have done to deserve this privilege.