Subscribe to watch - 14-day free trial, then £4.99 a month

Land and Freedom
Ken Loach’s passionate war drama follows an idealistic young Liverpudlian (Ian Hart) who fights for the international brigade during the Spanish Civil War.
War 1995 105 mins
Director: Ken Loach
Overview
Britain’s foremost social chronicler Ken Loach ventured beyond the UK for this passionate polemic set during the Spanish Civil War. Ian Hart plays David Carne, an idealistic young Liverpudlian who joins the international brigade to fight Franco’s fascists in the 1930s. As David becomes more engaged with his own side’s internecine conflicts than he does on the battlefield, he begins to learn the compromises and necessities of a brutal war.
While Loach may have a reputation as the most British of filmmaking institutions, Land and Freedom was first of three films made towards the end of the 1990s to focus on issues of international socialism. As such is has a more expansive, cinematic feel to many of his films, with its fine period detail and dramatic battle scenes. But the intelligence and intimacy of his best work remains, much of it deriving from Jim Allen’s typically humanistic screenplay. Land and Freedom would be Allen’s last Loach collaboration and final screen credit before his death in 1999; and from that point on Loach established another longstanding writer-director relationship with screenwriter Paul Laverty.

Accessibility
Related
War

Reflection Reflection
Drama 2021 127 mins Director: Valentyn Vasyanovych
A prisoner of war exposed to extreme cruelty and trauma struggles to readjust to civilian life upon his release, in Valentyn Vasyanovych's bold and brutal drama.

JSA: Joint Security Area JSA: Joint Security Area
Thriller 2001 109 mins Director: Park Chan-wook
Gunfire breaks out in the demilitarised zone between North and South Korea in this gripping thriller from Park Chan-wook.

The Painted Bird The Painted Bird
Drama 2019 169 mins Director: Vaclav Marhoul
Based on Jerzy Kosiński’s 1965 novel and a long time in the making, Václav Marhoul’s extraordinary The Painted Bird finds a lone Jewish boy on a dark odyssey towards home during wartime.

Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence
War 1982 123 mins Director: Nagisa Oshima
An unflinching study of brutality and resistance, fear and desire in a Japanese WWII POW camp, directed with verve by Oshima and starring David Bowie, Ryuichi Sakamoto and Tom Conti.

Germany, Year Zero Germany, Year Zero
War 1948 73 mins Director: Roberto Rossellini
The concluding part of Roberto Rossellini’s celebrated War Trilogy, set amid the war-torn ruins of Berlin.

Rome, Open City Rome, Open City
War 1945 103 mins Director: Roberto Rossellini
Roberto Rossellini’s landmark of Italian neorealism often cited as one of the greatest films ever made.
British Cinema

Unrelated Unrelated
Drama 2007 96 mins Director: Joanna Hogg
On a Tuscan break a fortysomething woman finds herself drawn to the company of a group of partying teens, including a young Tom Hiddleston (in one of his earliest roles).

Exhibition Exhibition
Drama 2013 105 mins Director: Joanna Hogg
Joanna Hogg's sleek and minimalist comedy about a pair of artists and their emotional attachment to their ultra-modernist apartment.

Me without You Me without You
Drama 2001 103 mins Director: Sandra Goldbacher
Anna Friel and Michelle Williams star as two troubled girls whose tumultuous friendship takes many twists and turns.

Little Joe Little Joe
Science Fiction 2019 105 mins Director: Jessica Hausner
Jessica Hausner’s cool, witty and unsettling sci-fi starring Emily Beecham and Ben Whishaw.

County Lines County Lines
Drama 2019 90 mins Director: Henry Blake
Blistering thriller of a teen groomed to work for a brutal, organised drugs network.

Archipelago Archipelago
Drama 2010 109 mins Director: Joanna Hogg
Starring Tom Hiddleston, a family holiday to the Isles of Scilly sees fractures emerge in this sun-filled drama from Joanna Hogg (The Souvenir).
Directed by Ken Loach

Ae Fond Kiss... Ae Fond Kiss...
Drama 2004 100 mins Director: Ken Loach
Ken Loach's warm and characteristically understated drama deals with the challenges of a cross-cultural romance as Casim, a second-generation Scottish-Pakistani, falls for Irish-Catholic teacher, Roisin.
New

Tony Takitani Tony Takitani
Drama 2004 76 mins Director: Jun Ichikawa
Award-winning film adapted from Haruki Murakami’s New Yorker tale of solitude and obsession.

Being Frank: The Chris Sievey Story Being Frank: The Chris Sievey Story
Documentary 2018 101 mins Director: Steve Sullivan
Frank Sidebottom was a pillar of alternative comedy of the late 80s/early 90s, and this charming documentary remembers the man behind the papier-mâché head.

Ava Ava
Drama 2017 103 mins Director: Sadaf Foroughi
Sadaf Foroughi's gripping debut about a young girl's coming-of-age in a strict, traditional society.

Hive Hive
Drama 2020 84 mins Director: Blerta Basholli
Director Blerta Basholli’s feature debut is a moving story of resilience and hope.

Charlatan Charlatan
Drama 2020 118 mins Director: Agnieszka Holland
Agnieszka Holland’s fascinating biopic of Jan Mikolášek, a 20th century Czech herbalist whose great success masked the grimmest of secrets.

Polisse Polisse
Police drama 2011 128 mins Director: Maïwenn Le Besco
Brutal, shocking and incredibly powerful, this close-up examination of the workings of a child protection police unit in Paris is hard-hitting and heart-stopping cinema.