Submitted by Robert Pritchard, Mar 12, 2008 14:42

To agree with the reviewer, it is a powerful film -- but may I express a few reservations.

The reviewer's comments that the film portrays immigrant hardships more thoroughly than Dirty Little Things is surprising; the latter film is mainly about such immigrants, so it's difficult to see what he means by saying they are only 'window dressing'. It's A Free World, rather like The Constant Gardener (where a diplomat discovers unsavoury drug testing practices in Kenya), is rather about westerners who exploit foreigners, than the foreigners themselves. Whereas The Constant Gardener's hero discovers his conscience, It's A Free World's heroine -- with similar courage -- discovers her lack of one.

As a temporary resident of Wroclaw who knows many Poles who have worked successfully in Britain, I suggest that Loach is exaggerating to make a point when he portrays them mainly living in trailer parks and dependent on labour mafias. Most of those I know, at least, sooner or later find their own living accommodation (often humble but hardly 'third world in London', as the film's character puts it) and make their own employment arrangements -- more benign, thankfully, than those shown in the film.

Note: Comments are screened, and in some cases edited, before posting. We reserve the right to reject anything we find objectionable.