The movie, I Daniel Blake, was about an older widowed man who was experiencing some health problems and was told by his doctors that he shouldn’t work until his health was better. Daniel listened to the doctors and didn’t work and tried to apply for benefits to help him financially through this time he had to be off work. While at the office where he went to apply for benefits, he met a young woman named Katie with two small children who was experiencing problems of her own with getting benefits to help her and her family get back on their feet. Daniel and Katie became friends and Daniel would often help Katie out with anything that he could.
[SPOILER ALERT; PLOT DETAILS FOLLOW]
After receiving no help from the state, Katie resorted to stealing personal care items, which indirectly led to Katie taking work as an escort to make money to provide for her children. Daniel found out and told Katie he didn’t want her doing such things to make ends meet. By the end of the film Daniel and Katie were at an appeal for Daniel and were getting ready to go into the meeting and Daniel went to the bathroom to freshen up and ended up dying in the bathroom just minutes before he was to go in the meeting to win his appeal.
After watching the movie, I was able to understand the struggles that many people go through every day. There were a few times during the movie that I felt extremely sad for what Daniel and Katie were going through. I have always had a hard time understanding why people had so much trouble getting services when they need help. I now have a better knowledge of some of the struggles people all over the world go through.
One thing I never thought of was when Daniel was having problems with filling out paperwork that he had to locate and complete online. There are many people all over the world that are not able to access the internet. For someone who has never got on a computer, navigating the internet and completing a complex form is an impossible task. The policy should include paper forms of whatever is needing completion for those who are not able to access the internet or do not understand it. If that is not possible then there should be someone who can sit there and go through the application, start to finish. This would have been very beneficial for Daniel. After many attempts Daniel had lost hope that he would get the help he needed.
Another thing that bothered me was the social worker telling Daniel that he had to try to find work, knowing all along that he would not be able to accept any position he was offered due to his health concerns. I could almost feel Daniel’s pain when the social worker told him that he needed to try harder to find a job.
I found so much humor in Daniel painting on the wall outside of the benefits building. I am sure so many people can relate to what he was feeling at that moment that he spray-painted that on the wall. I also felt sorry for Katie with her situation as well. She was trying so hard to do things right for her and her family. When the system failed her, she had to resort to stealing simple grooming items for herself at the local store. Katie had also been practically starving herself just to make sure her kids could eat. I was shocked when she opened the can of food while she was at the food pantry and started eating it because she was so weak from not eating. I do not feel anyone should go through the things that Daniel and Katie did.
The system is broken and needs to be changed so things like this do not have to happen. This film was accurate at describing how hard it is to receive help and it accurately depicted different things that people go through. I came from a poor family and I can relate to Katie’s daughter when she was getting made fun of at school because her shoes were falling apart. Lucky for me, we had a large family and would often get secondhand clothing and shoes. I understand that kids make fun of others for things like this and I know how it feels to be the kid getting made fun of. My twelve-year-old daughter was watching this film with me and she too was shocked at how the people were treating Daniel for things out of his control. There is too much money in this world for people to be going through this everywhere in the world. There must be a better way to fix this problem than what we are currently doing!
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