I wasn’t sure whether Beyond The Joke should be reviewing I, Daniel Blake. I’ve already been ticked off this week by the pedantry police for reviewing Black Mirror because it is not a comedy. And Ken Loach’s latest movie definitely isn’t a comedy. But Dave Johns, the actor who plays the title role, is a comedian. And there are definitely comic moments in it. And, furthermore, it’s an important film, which should get as much publicity as possible even if it doesn’t need it. Dave Johns tweeted earlier this week that the only film that did better on its opening weekend was Jack Reacher: Never Go Back.*

I won’t go too much into the storyline of I, Daniel Blake as you should know that by now. It has already won the Palme D'Or at Cannes and umpteen other festival prizes and the stars have been justifiably acclaimed for their excellent performances. Basically it charts the struggle of people who have to fight a brutal, heartless system to make ends meet. People who have to go to food banks just to put a meal on the table. People who are trapped in a Kafkaesque world of computerised bureaucracy where their doctor says they are unfit for work but the state insists they work or look for work or lose their benefits. 

Daniel Blake is a skilled tradesman who desperately wants to work. It is the system that stops him. He is clearly no scrounger but is viewed as one. Meanwhile single mum Katie (Hayley Squires) is forced to go to desperate ends to pay the electricity bill. Yes, this is England in the 21st Century, not some Victorian fable. Watching their story unfold is heartbreaking. When I saw it the audience sat in silence as the credits rolled and many continued to sit in silence stifling tears after the lights had come up.

But within this drama there is clearly humour. Loach has often used comedians and comedy in the past. Remember the scene in Riff Raff when the builder played by Ricky Tomlinson is caught naked in the bath by prospective house-buyers? Loach can clearly see that stand-ups make good actors. John Bishop had a supporting role in Route Irish. But Dave Johns is the outright star of I, Daniel Blake and has even been mentioned as a possible Oscar contender. 

And despite the sadness, humour helps to remind us that the people are human. In one scene Blake has to submit a form via computer. He is an experienced carpenter who can put up beautiful shelves but he is flummoxed by technology. When he is advised to run the mouse over the screen he picks it up and physically pushes it against the computer screen. In another scene he has a shouting match with a neighbour whose dog is shitting on the lawn outside his flat. The neighbour is played by another north-eastern comic, Mickey Hutton. And another stand-up, Gavin Webster, plays Joe, who works in the local sawmill.

So yes, I, Daniel Blake will make you cry if you have a shred of decency in you. but it is not only a sobfest. It will make you laugh too, so I wanted to big it up on BTJ. Having said that, I’d want to big it up even if there were no laughs in it at all. It’s a searingly important, powerful film about life in England today. Everyone should see it.

I, Daniel Blake is in cinemas now.

* I'm not sure if that's quite the full story according to this, but its figures are still pretty impressive.