The Spirit of 45 is Ken Loach at his very best, says Tom Prince

The guiding idea of ‘The Spirit of ’45’ is both simple and brilliant: to tell the story of the creation of the welfare state by the 1945 Labour government and of the subsequent partial demolition of it in the neoliberal era.

This story is told in an equally straightforward manner. Archive black and white footage is interspersed with contemporary interviews shot in black and white so that they merge with the archive.

So what is it that ranks this film among Ken Loach’s most accomplished?

Firstly the choice of archive is outstanding throughout. This is the next best thing to being there. Two moments stick in my mind especially. One is of Winston Churchill standing in front of a crowd on an election hustings in 1945. To a person they are chanting at him ‘Labour, Labour, Labour!’. You can see the look of utter incomprehension on his face. He just does not get that ordinary people detest the Tories, are imbued with a democratic and collective spirit and simply will not return to the 1930s poverty and unemployment.

The second is the public information footage of the new NHS leaflet arriving through the letter box of a suburban home. The close up shows the list of services now available for free. It includes eye-care and dentistry. Then it hits you. These are things we have already lost, costing us all hundreds of pounds a year. Too much for many poor families.

Secondly, there are the interviews. All the participants are good, most recollecting their experience before the welfare state, at its founding and after. There shouldn’t be a star in this kind of film. Indeed, there can’t be a star. The interview snippets are short and there are many of them. But, for all that, there is a star. Its Ray Davies, former South Wales miner, councillor, and still an anti-war activist. His recollections pack an emotional punch that few documentaries can boast.

Thirdly, there is something absurdly simple. Ken Loach is a director who respects working people. He takes them seriously. He listens to what they say. He shoots them as if they are Hollywood stars but at the same time doesn’t prettify or romance them with the camera.

In many ways this is Loach’s most pro-Labour film. Given his political sympathy lies with the far left it must have been tempting to list what was wrong with the 45 Labour government – its foreign policy, the strike breaking and a fair bit more. But Loach is right not to have taken this tack. In praising what was achieved the contemporary case for defending it is all the more powerful. And so is the criticism of New Labour, from the days of Thatcher to right now, for letting the Tories set the agenda.

Finally, and this is a rarity, the film is a surrounded by its own political campaign. The digital project which accompanies it is a whole socialist education project in itself. But Loach is also linking the screenings this weekend with the campaign to build the People’s Assembly which he helped to launch in the letter to the Guardian a few weeks back. And he is relentlessly on the road promoting the film’s socialist message.

Of course you should see this film. But the film is going to be released on DVD immediately. So follow Loach’s example and organise around it. The distribution company have said they will assist labour movement and campaign screenings. Show it, campaign with it. Let’s create a new Spirit of ’45.