Much as Steven Spielberg followed 1993's special-effects blockbuster Jurassic Park with a far more downbeat and personal project later the same year, Schindler's List, in 2005 after tearing up the box office with War of the Worlds the director closed out the year with a powerful and thoughtful drama about the human costs of international terrorism. The 1972 Olympics in Munich, Germany, were supposed to be a peaceful gathering of outstanding athletes from around the world, but on September 5, the games took a sinister turn when eight masked Palestinian terrorists invaded the Olympic village, killing two Israeli athletes and abducting nine others.
Ken Loach, one of the most admired and respected UK filmmakers of his generation began directing for the BBC in 1964. In his contributions to the BBC series The Wednesday Play from 1965-69–among them Up the Junction and Cathy Come Home–he would establish his reputation for making realistic social issue dramas. After feature film success in the late sixties, Ken Loach returned to television, directing the acclaimed series Days of Hope (1975) and the two-parter The Price of Coal (1977). In his films, Loach pushed the boundaries of television drama. He took filming out of the studio and introduced a documentary-style approach and, alongside producer Tony Garnett and writers such as David Mercer, Jim Allen, Jeremy Sandford, Nell Dunn and Barry Hines, he tackled controversial subjects from an often incendiary radical perspective.
Contains: The Big Flame, Three Clear Sundays, Days of Hope, The End of Arthur’s Marriage, In Two Minds, Up the Junction, The Price of Coal, Cathy Come Home and The Rank and File.