I, Daniel Blake (2016) on Netflix
Daniel Blake, a widowed carpenter, is recovering from a heart attack but is judged fit for work and loses his benefits. He appeals and befriends Katie, a single mother new to Newcastle.
- Netflix3.4/5
- IMDb7.8/1068,855 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes92%
Trailer
Plot summary
Daniel Blake, a widowed joiner in Newcastle, has had a heart attack. His doctor has not let him return to work, yet a Work Capability Assessment finds him fit and his Employment and Support Allowance is refused. Nobody asked his doctor, so Daniel applies to appeal, a process that runs through online forms he cannot manage. At the Jobcentre he meets Katie Morgan, who has been sanctioned for turning up late. She and her two children, Daisy and Dylan, have come north because housing was available there, and she is caught in the same round of appointments at social services. Daniel repairs things for the family and builds wooden toys for the children. He keeps his heart condition from Katie.
Cast
- Magpie Richensas Piper
- Amanda Payneas Employment Support Allowance Assessor
- Gavin Websteras At the Sawmill
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about I, Daniel Blake (2016)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Producer Rebecca O'Brien first approached Channel 4's film division to fund the film, and was told funding was not available because the channel was "already covering the area" with Benefits Street, a programme many saw as demonising people on state welfare.
- The Conservative work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith called the film unfair and said its portrayal of Jobcentre staff had really hurt them; the producer, Rebecca O'Brien, replied that Duncan Smith was "living in cloud cuckoo land".
- Comedian Tom Mayhew, who had spent over three years on benefits in "austerity Britain", was inspired by the film to write the Edinburgh Fringe show I, Tom Mayhew, which later transferred to a sold-out run at the Soho Theatre in January 2020.
- Dave Johns took the solo show I, Filum Star to the 2017 Edinburgh Fringe about how the film's success had changed his life, playing to sold-out rooms, and in 2019 toured From Byker to the BAFTAs with 24 dates from August to November.
