"Actor: Angela Forrest"

• The Navigators | DVD | (22/04/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Ken Loach does for the railways in The Navigators what he did for the construction industry in Riff-Raff (1990). As ever, his sympathies lie firmly with the ordinary working blokes, not above of bit of banter and skiving, but essentially trying to do a decent job and stay loyal to their mates in the face of managerial double-talk and corporate devotion to the bottom line. It's 1995, and the Tories have just carried out their disastrous, pea-brained scheme to break up the railways. We follow the fortunes of a gang of track workers in South Yorkshire as they find themselves confronted with all the fallout of privatisation--redundancies, cost-cutting, corner-cutting and the wholesale junking of any concern with safety or quality of work. Accidental deaths, one hapless time-server explains, "have got to be kept to an acceptable level". Two scenes encapsulate the tragic-comic tone of the film. At one point the disbelieving workers are ordered by managers to smash up a load of new equipment; it's surplus to requirements, but can't possibly be sold to "the competition", their former British Rail workmates at the depot down the line. Later, called to a derailment, the track workers pass a whole series of hard-hat wearing managers, each paying no attention to what needs doing but muttering fiercely into a mobile phone trying to pass the buck for the accident to another company. Loach cast the film using local actors and comics, and there's a strong sense of authenticity in the flat accents and dry Yorkshire humour. But ultimately this is a lament for the destruction, not only of what was once a great rail network, but of the pride and camaraderie of those who worked on it. The film's ending is fittingly bleak. --Philip Kemp

• Exhibit A | DVD | (21/06/2010) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Winner of the prestigious Best UK Feature award at the Raindance Film Festival and nominated for three British Independent Film Awards. Exhibit A tells the timely story of a normal family disintegrating under financial pressure, eventually driven to the unimaginable. All is not as it seems as the King family go about their day-to-day lives oblivious of the horror to come. Dad Andy (Bradley Cole) is nursing a secret that ultimately leads to terrifying consequences for them all. We witness these chilling events unfold through daughter Judith's (Brittany Ashworth) video camera, which subsequently becomes Exhibit A. The film is inspired by the many men in real life who are known to their neighbours as devoted husbands and fathers, but for unknowable reasons suddenly decide to take drastic action to protect their loved ones. Exhibit A has left a trail of stunned audiences at festivals all over the world and won't leave you the same person. The Collector's Edition includes an exclusive making of featurette, rehearsal footage and bonus teaser trailers.