The Navigators

Also known as the Ken Loach film you haven't seen, the 2001 film 'the Navigators' follows a group of track workers as they 'navigate' their way through life after the collapse of British rail in 1995. From the outset a bustling work room full of grizzled Yorkshiremen full of laughter, banter and camaraderie, are told their new company's mission statement - new terms like 'performance-related pay', 'efficiency' and 'unpaid holidays' are mentioned. It's a case of staying on under the new firm were BR agreements with workers and unions are void, take the redundancy cash and begin life as casual agency workers.

The film follows a key handful of these chaps. Loach used lesser known actors, the only 'names' so to speak are Steve Huison (the Full Monty, When Saturday Comes) and Tom Craig (Where the Heart Is - you know the one, he's a Sheff Wed fan in everything he's in), as to keep the authenticity and real life aspect of the film. The lads struggle on at the new firm as one by one their colleagues accept the redundancy package, and before long there is only a couple of them left. Those that stay are appalled by the 'flexible working' and extreme cost cutting at work, the economic problems with family life at home and the changing face of society.

In the end they all take their chance with agency work with varying success. In the end the over the top cost cutting by new railway companies are highlighted, leading to a heart breaking and deeply upsetting scene, that puts the rest of them in a deep moral predicament - do what is right or do what will keep them in work. An appalling situation that shows just how desperate the lads have become.

Hard hitting, sad but full of dry wit, the Navigators is not as important as 'Kes', not as acclaimed as 'Riff-Raff' and not as witty as 'Looking for Eric', but is still a very good piece of British film. Given good reviews, it was given even more kudos later in 2001 when Railtrack was folded by the Labour government, after cost-cutting and shady dealing had led to several high profile accidents, bringing the content in Loach's rail film real topicality, making it a critically acclaimed important piece of film making.