10 Most Emotionally Devastating Movie Moments Of 2016

Veteran British director Ken Loach, the king of kitchen sink realism, announced his retirement from the film industry in 2014, but it didn’t take long for him to realise he still had work to do. As the British Conservative government’s austerity measures clamped down on the country, the seed of an idea for a new film exposing the injustices of the UK’s welfare system was planted.

The result was I, Daniel Blake – winner of the Palme d’Or at last year’s Cannes Film Festival.

Starring actor-comedian Dave Johns as the eponymous Daniel – a man left unable to work after a huge heart attack but deemed fit for employment by his local benefits office – the film follows his attempts to navigate a labyrinthine welfare system and along the way strikes up an unlikely friendship with Katie (Hayley Squires), a young single mother of two in similar circumstances. Many a hardened film reviewer was left in tears after seeing the movie, but there was one heartbreakingly shocking scene that got everyone especially misty-eyed.

Taking place in a food bank following a benefits sanction that has left her penniless, the scene sees Katie desperately shovelling cold baked beans straight from a can into her mouth after not eating for several days to make sure her kids had enough food. Inspired by a real-life anecdote Loach and his scriptwriter Paul Laverty came across while researching the film, it’s a powerful and raw moment highlighting a very real problem in Britain.