It's a Free World...

With a central trope that recalls Jerzy Skolimowski's Moonlighting (1982), Palme d'Or winner Ken Loach's ironically titled social-consciousness drama It's a Free World... dissects the problem of exploited immigrant labor from the perspective of one taking advantage. Actress Kierston Wareing stars as Angie, a native of London's East End who works for a shady and sketchy employment agency that predominantly hires illegal Eastern European immigrants. Unceremoniously fired from that outfit, she cooks up the scheme of establishing her own such agency with the help of a roommate, Rose (Juliet Ellis); Angie begins scouting the local factories to recruit cheap labor, while Rose puts up a website and mission statement to give the operation a distinct veneer of class and idealism. As Angie flaunts her body and unabashedly uses the lure of sex to attract new clients and business, she ignorantly fails to acknowledge warnings that she may be headed for dangerous waters. Meanwhile, family problems erupt when Angie's extremely dysfunctional and misguided 11-year-old son, Jamie (Joe Siffleet), gets in trouble for severely beating a classmate, and Angie's unionist father grows utterly horrified when he learns of his daughter's activities.~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide