I liked this film even if I would not go to see it normally. I mean, this is just not the type,of film that I like, it's too realistic and I prefer thrillers or fantasy films. But it was a good surprise, the plot is well-directed and I have nothing to say about the actors' game. This film tells us the story of Angie, a single mother who will lose her job after an act of sexual harassment. She will decide to launch her own firm with the help of Rose, her friend and accolyte. I liked the contrast between the two : when Angie is short-tempered and shows her dark side, Rose is more down-to-earth and is deeply nice. Well, I liked this film but it was a little bit slow I think, like a sort of floating in "action"... And some of the "dialogues" were here just for the fitting of scenes which were empty of action. Most of the time, it was interesting but they were moments which were quite boring and some of them were just completely deadly-boring. But it was a good film, it opened my eyes on things that I didn't know. This film was quite interesting even if there were useless scenes. I recommend it for people who are interested on this theme but don't go if it's not a subject that you're interested in, because it's much socially and politically engaged, it's not a criticism, but sometimes it was difficult to follow the story because I didn't understand the social context. It was good, nothing more, nothing less. It was not vibrant, I didn't feel my blood burning in my veins, it was just good but I'm not an expert. So I think if you know the news and if you are interested in this theme, go !

Angie (Kierston Wareing) is frustrated after getting fired from being a recruiter. She's 33 and in debt. She's tired of dead end jobs and decides to start her own recruitment agency with her flatmate Rose (Juliet Ellis). They struggle to build up the business as Angie gets pulled into using illegals as laborers. Her son Jamie is getting in trouble at school and her parents want her to be more involved. They disapprove of her work. She's sleeping with Pole laborer Karol. Mahmoud is an illegal and political dissident from Iran who has his wife and kids.Director Ken Loach tackles the modern world of labor and illegal immigration in a real world way. It's all murky and ethically challenged. Wareing is pretty good. She's great as a hard-headed woman always striving. There is a shocking turn. It's not the shocking turn that I would expect. I can't complain because it fits the murky ethics that is the backbone of this movie. This has a point of view and sticks to it all the way to the very last scene.

It's a free world ... is a typical Ken Loach film, and thus lacks the black-and-white portayals, that characterize many Hollywood products. There are neither bad nor good guys, but evidently there is something terribly wrong with the system. You are urged to consider, that may be the regulations of the contemporary capitalist society require some adjustments. In this film Loach dissects the effects of the free mobility of laborers in the European Union. In the past decades many poor countries have been added to the European Union, so that the extensions have increased the overall inequality. Inequality fosters exploitation, and indeed the labor force of the poor countries is drained by the producers in the wealthier ones in order to dispose of an excess of cheap labor (which helps to suppress the domestic wage level as well). The social costs are externalized and rolled off to the society (cf. Margareth Thatcher: There is no such thing as society!!). In the film this development is represented by a really dirty business woman Angie (played by Kierston Wareing), the main character, who together with her partner Rose (Juliet Ellis) starts a temporary employment agency for East-European unemployed workers in London. Somehow they are more stupid than deeply evil. Their only aim is to get rich quick, in particular Angie who is heavily indebted. She makes contracts with dubious firms, and overrides any regulations with respect to working conditions. Eventually she even mediates for illegal workers (from Iran etc.), since these are still more profitable. She has a son, but not surprisingly he has to be raised by her parents. In the end, Angie is deceived herself, when her major costumer refuses to pay. Consequently, Angie can not pay the illegal workers. Here the story gets a bit incredible, since a masked squad of the illegal workers raids her apartment, and extorts her. Anyway the message is clear: crime does not pay. The film gives no solutions, but invites you to reflect. For me, there is no logic in the mobility of workers. Capital should move to available workers, and not the reverse. People tend to feel secure and at home in their own surroundings. These are the places, where they have their social networks. Migration uproots people, and makes them vulnerable to disorganization. In fact the film has a resemblance with The Grapes of Wrath. I was told, that in the USA the peoples mobility is somewhat less of a problem, because there is a single language and the federal culture has spread through the states. In addition most Americans have a family background of migration, although emerging out of dire needs. Nevertheless, all people tend to take root. The acceptance of mobility in the USA does not mean that it is actually a good and economically necessary thing. One final remark about Kierston Wareing. She more or less outperforms Julia Roberts. A striking example that it is your coterie that counts, and not your talents and qualities. If social films interest you, consider reading some of my other reviews.

Another slice of low life from Ken Loach, this is an "issue" picture dealing with trafficking in stateless workers. It's not the first, but this one features the astonishing Kierston Wareing, who landed this leading role after appearing briefly in just one TV episode. Kierston can play the pushy cow in the workplace, the caring neighbour and mother in private, and the tender lover in the bedroom. Strutting around getting her new business together, rounding up clients and welcoming curious workers, in all-black leatherette motor-bike togs, she makes this otherwise rather ordinary little drama stand out. When the going gets rough, she is utterly believable as the plucky fighter standing up for herself against an all-male world. When things go pear-shaped, she is the vulnerable female, but also the protective mother, as determined as any tigress. Throughout, we are rooting for her, even when she is obviously losing her way in a messed-up workaday world. At the end of the film, she is doing the wrong thing in order to do the right thing, and Loach has shown up brilliantly the conflicted people who traffic in the misfortune of their fellow workers. Definitely see this picture, if only to relish Kierston Wareing's maiden performance.