It is 65 years to the day that the National Health Service was established in England. No system that expensive, that important, that ambitious, could ever run as smoothly as it ought to, but its flaws and failures still considered, the NHS is the envy of nations around the world, even developed nations. You don't walk into the theatre expecting Ken Loach to lay easy on the overt liberalism - it's something you must accept, whether you agree with it or not. And maybe there are potent issues from another perspective, from that of the rich, privileged right-wingers lambasted herein, whose opinions must matter no less than those whose voices are so conspicuous in this film. But Loach intends not to host an even-sided debate on the topics of post-War UK and the social and political changes which were implemented in that critical period. Even-handed, not even-sided. His passion, and the clarity with which he directs his arguments, draws him toward the crux of the matter, eliciting candid, persuasive recollections from Brits who lived and worked through the latter half of the 20th Century, and establishing each element of the narrative concisely. And no matter what your view, Loach's argument is one which has been beaten down in more recent decades, and is now considered, by many, irrelevant and even offensive, despite providing better representation for the needs and desires of communities not only in the UK but across the globe than that delivered by current politicians, and despite offering practical fundamental solutions to problems which we faced then in 1945 and face now in 2013. The Spirit of '45 is shot in black and white; not only the archive footage, but the present-day interviews. 65 years since the establishment of the NHS, and just how much has truly changed for the better?
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