I, Daniel Blake (2016)

Film Summary: A masterpiece of social realism by director Ken Loach that won the Palme d'Or at Cannes Film Festival. It tells the story of a British carpenter in his late fifties who suffers a heart attack that prevents him from working at doctors' orders. Daniel finds himself trapped in the maze of government bureaucracy while trying to obtain disability benefits, and his path crosses that of a single mother who also suffers from extreme poverty.

Economic Insight: The film harshly critiques "Austerity Economics" and modern welfare system economics. It explains how digital bureaucracy and harsh conditions become tools for "exclusion" of the most vulnerable groups to reduce government spending, highlighting the deep gap between macroeconomic indicators (growth, deficit) and the harsh lived reality of individuals (microeconomics).