Bartender Tommy Joe Ballantyne (Dave Turner, who’s had small parts in some of Loach’s other movies) is, crucially, no different from the rest of the townsfolk. But when newcomer Yara (Ebla Mari) comes to him with a broken camera, something clicks between them.
He helps her get the camera fixed. He shows her pictures of the town when it was home to a thriving but dangerous coal mining industry. (Yes, we can be nostalgic for the bad old days.) And he begins to realize that spending time with these immigrants can be a good thing for all involved.
Loach (and I should include Laverty in this assessment) has always had a unique talent of making movies that illustrate human warmth without ever sliding into the maudlin. What’s more, he can deliver a lesson without ever being didactic. And he can make us cry.
The Old Oak is no exception. If you’re aged and British (or, like me, aged-and-British-adjacent) you may see shadows of yourself in the townsfolk who claim to speak “the Queen’s English” while using words like “nowt,” and who say they understand the travails of immigration because “me father was Irish.”
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