Stars: Steve Huison, Joe Duttine, Tom Craig

Director: Ken Loach

Summary: The life and times of a group of South Yorkshire Railway workers at the time of the privatisation of British Rail.

Ken Loach's THE NAVIGATORS follows a group of South Yorkshire railway workers during the mid-1990s privatisation of British Rail. The film features Loach's typically asute social commentary and subtle humour.

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Ken Loach does for the railways in The Navigatorswhat he did for the construction industry in Riff-Raff(1990). As ever, his sympathies lie firmly with the ordinary working blokes, not above of bit of banter and skiving, but essentially trying to do a decent job and stay loyal to their mates in the face of managerial double-talk and corporate devotion to the bottom line.

It's 1995, and the Tories have just carried out their disastrous, pea-brained scheme to break up the railways. We follow the fortunes of a gang of track workers in South Yorkshire as they find themselves confronted with all the fallout of privatisation--redundancies, cost-cutting, corner-cutting and the wholesale junking of any concern with safety or quality of work. Accidental deaths, one hapless time-server explains, "have got to be kept to an acceptable level".

Two scenes encapsulate the tragic-comic tone of the film. At one point the disbelieving workers are ordered by managers to smash up a load of new equipment; it's surplus to requirements, but can't possibly be sold to "the competition", their former British Rail workmates at the depot down the line. Later, called to a derailment, the track workers pass a whole series of hard-hat wearing managers, each paying no attention to what needs doing but muttering fiercely into a mobile phone trying to pass the buck for the accident to another company.

Loach cast the film using local actors and comics, and there's a strong sense of authenticity in the flat accents and dry Yorkshire humour. But ultimately this is a lament for the destruction, not only of what was once a great rail network, but of the pride and camaraderie of those who worked on it. The film's ending is fittingly bleak. --Philip Kemp

Aspect Ratio:	1.85 Wide Screen, 16:9 Wide Screen
Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Special Features:	Film Writer Documentary, Early British Transport Film, Deleted Scenes With Editors Commentary
Year:	2001
Release Date:	April 22, 2002
Runtime:	92 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	B F I V D 539
Keywords:	General, Wide, Screen, Drama, Navigators
Genre:	Drama