Angel's share

Distilling dreams of a better future in the Highlands

You may not associate Ken Loach with comedy but his latest -and brilliant- film Angel's share made me laugh out loud. After exploring the underworld and dirty businesses that Western companies undertake in post-war Iraq, Loach has turned to a familiar place,Scotland, and more particularly that utterly amazing ( I must confess, I love it) city that is Glasgow.
What does not change though, is Loach's and Paul Laverty's humanistic approach; in a miserable world there is room for poetic justice, those little victories that defeat the routine and brigthen up the lives of those who are always pushed aside and denied that opportunity that may change things for the better.
Focusing on a group of young Glasgewians sentenced to community payback who find their own angel in Harry, their caring and sweet supervisor, the film follows their trail to the Highlands in their pursue of a very rare whisky that is going to be auctioned; whisky auctions, like art auctions, are for the extremely rich, capable of paying outrageous amounts of money for that special sip.
However, things don't quite turn up as expected for the mighty-yet blissfully ignorant- millionaires.
Loach's eye is once again more interested in the fate of the unlikely heroes of a party they weren't invented to.It's their time to get their part of the pie.
The beautiful title of this upbeat film refers to the 2% of whisky that evaporates from the casks each year.
Played by non-professional actors, Angel's share is very well performed and very funny, far from the gloomy films that we saw in the past. There is hope and it must be shared.