The Navigators

The socially committed film The Navigators is fictional, but has a very realistic background. Around 1995, the British railways were privatised. The organisation was split up into many companies, as a result of which colleagues who had worked together for many years suddenly became each other’s competitors. Safety precautions were pushed aside in favour of cheaper alternatives. As a result, there were several severe accidents. Collective labour agreements that had been fought out over the years were not adopted by the new owners. Employers faced a choice: leave and take the redundancy money, or accept the new conditions (such as no sickness and holiday benefits).Scriptwriter Rob Dawson (who died just before the film was completed, as a result of contact with asbestos during his work) had been working for British Rail for 18 years and was an active trade unionist. From that position, he experienced the privatisation from close by. His realistic screenplay about this period, with dialogues that sometimes seem literally swept from the shop floor, is presented very naturally by a cast comprising both professionals and amateurs. Loach found many of the actors in Yorkshire pubs, where they performed as comedians or entertainers. Their sense of comic timing is essential in The Navigators, where the grim reality becomes a little more bearable thanks to the solidarity and humour of the railway workers.