The use of melodrama in the cinematographic form of Ken Loach

Abstract

This research discusses the aesthetical-political project of the English filmmaker Ken Loach in the course of the history of political art, and as a result of the historical process of crisis of the Left and fragmentation of the working class, intensified throughout the second half of the 20th century, especially in countries such as England. We observe the ways in which the work of Ken Loach creates of a form which possesses a rescue of melodramatic materials, and the consequences of such formal choice for the political content of his movies. The movie used as basis for the analysis is Land and Freedom (1995), whose form and content, besides discussing the Spanish Civil War and its relation to the British context of the late 20th century, bring about the discussion over the role of political cinema and its possibilities and limitations inside the cultural industry.