Vital, heartbreaking and inspiring cinema. From the very start The Old Oak drags you into the visceral and powerful emotion of this piece, and it rarely relents. It depicts the events after a group of Syrian refugees is placed in an ex-mining town in the north-east of England. Despite it being a fiction, the realism that Loach brings to the film and the fact that anybody living in Britain will unfortunately recognise the language and sentiment makes it an intensely devastating film. But it is not all doom and gloom. It also shows the best of humanity and how people can rally around each other, which also makes for a truly inspiring film. The message of this film is so crucial and powerful and is conveyed so well, and that is the most important thing. It is impossible not be stirred emotionally by this film in only a way the best film makers can achievet