Kes (1970)
Bullied at school and ignored and abused at home by his indifferent mother and older brother, Billy Casper, a 15-year-old working-class Yorkshire boy, tames and trains his pet kestrel falcon whom he names Kes. Helped and encouraged by his English teacher and his fellow students, Billy finally finds a positive purpose to his unhappy existence—until tragedy strikes.
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Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful
Don't Believe the Hype
The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.
It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.
Having never read the book that this film is adapted from, I had little idea what 'Kes' was even about, let alone the reputation it has as a British classic. After viewing I can safely say that 'Kes' is a film that I won't forget any time soon. This film takes you through every emotion imaginable. It's funny yet sad, depressing yet uplifting, and it's thoroughly enjoyable from start to finish. The broad Yorkshire accent takes some getting used to, even as a Northerner myself I struggled to understand some of what was being said, but that only adds to the genuine, raw feeling to the film.'Kes' is an excellent British film, one that I would recommend for those who enjoy realistic and raw pictures with meaning. This is a film that I will remember and certainly revisit some time in the future.
Ken Loach is widely regarded these days as one of the leading British directors of his generation, a unique social commentator behind some of the most celebrated films ever to come out of our country. Kes is his second feature film, released in 1969 and based on the book A Kestrel For A Knave by Barnsley-born author Barry Hines. A gritty but deeply affecting film, Kes ranks a very respectable seventh on the BFI's list of Top Ten British Films; it also features on the BFI's list of 50 films that all children should see by the age of 14. Not bad for a low budget, semi-improvised little film about how grim life is up north.Disaffected teenager Billy Casper (David Bradley) is nearing the end of his school years but has little future to look forward to. Lacking basic literacy and numeracy skills, often bullied by his schoolmates and his older brother (not to mention his merciless teachers) and suffering from a desperately poor attention span, Billy is one of life's outcasts, destined to a life of deprivation and nothingness. Even his mother (Lynne Perrie) refers to him as a "hopeless case". One day Billy finds a kestrel in a ruined farm building nearby and decides to take the bird home, hoping to train it. Unable to get a library card, his only option is to steal a book on falconry from a local antiquarian bookshop. Soon Billy is obsessed by the bird, feeding it and training it and learning, for the first time in his life, about the value of having something worth caring about. The kestrel has a positive effect on Billy, even though some of his peers tease him for spending so much time with it. Caring for the kestrel teaches him about responsibility while at school he is finally able to speak in front of his classmates about something interesting, commanding their attention as he describes what he has done so far to master the beautiful hawk. Sadly for Billy, the harsh reality of life is always waiting to drag him back down to earth with a bump. In this case, Billy's cruel and abusive brother Jud (Freddie Fletcher) hovers menacingly over him at all times, waiting to inflict misery on him and dash his aspirations. The kestrel presents Jud with just the opportunity he needs to strike a devastating blow against his "weedy" brother.Despite its reputation as a British classic, Kes was not at all successful in America, where it was a commercial disaster. The wonderfully naturalistic dialogue, delivered in a broad Barnsley dialect, probably made the film rather inaccessible to our friends across the Atlantic. Kes is quite bleak and depressing in tone, showing a society that wallows in cultural and social deprivation, and characters who drink/steal/abuse to fill the void in their lives. The kestrel represents freedom, a chance for Billy to fly above the negative influences all around him, but it is a sense of freedom doomed as completely and inevitably as Billy himself is doomed to a bleak future. Loach relieves the gloomy atmosphere with occasional flashes of humour, one being a rudely suggestive song performed by a 'turn' in a working men's club; the other being a fabulous school football lesson in which the teacher (Brian Glover) dreams of himself as Bobby Charlton and provides hilarious commentary of the match while he runs rings around his pupils. Away from the comedy, Kes is extremely powerful and gritty viewing, strongly performed by its cast of 'real' actors and believable non-professionals. As an example of Yorkshire-based cinema, Kes may well stake a valid claim to be the best of the lot. Harsh, depressing, gritty, yes but above all excellent.
Grim, poignant and funny, Kes is something truly remarkable. Ken Loach's direction is just wonderful, and the whole film looks beautiful with the photography and scenery very handsome. Kes also has a moving and engaging story with realistic situations that has such authenticity to it as well, while the script is beautifully written. The pace very rarely lags either, so there is seldom a dull moment.Kes is also advantaged by some fantastic acting. Freddie Fletcher epitomises the bully big brother so well, and Brian Glover is also remarkable. However, the most outstanding performance comes from David Bradley in the lead, he is very believable and very moving as well as he finds solace in the baby kestrel from the pain of his dysfunctional family life and the torment of school, so much so you do feel for him.Overall, a brilliant film and makes me proud to be British. 10/10 Bethany Cox
Most film-makers who deal with a story featuring a boy/girl and his/her pet go for the heartstrings by underlining both the kid's and the animal's cuteness. The narrative structure holding this picturesque idyll together mainly consists of predictable melodramatic incidents that endanger this relationship.One of Loach's best pics undermines this soapy approach by intensifying the unaffectedly portrayed boy-pet relationship through the unflinchingly bleak description of the boy's surroundings. Kes is not just a beloved falcon, he represents a way to endure social hardships.This earnest, heartfelt drama is a true gem of British working-class cinema.8 out of 10 funny football matches