Kes (film)
| Kes | |
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UK theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Ken Loach |
| Produced by | Tony Garnett |
| Screenplay by |
Barry Hines Ken Loach Tony Garnett |
| Based on |
A Kestrel for a Knave by Barry Hines |
| Starring |
David Bradley Freddie Fletcher Lynne Perrie Colin Welland Brian Glover |
| Music by | John Cameron |
| Cinematography | Chris Menges |
| Edited by | Roy Watts |
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Production
company |
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| Distributed by | United Artists |
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Release date
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Running time
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112 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Budget | £157,000 |
Kes /kɛs/ is a 1969 drama film directed by Ken Loach and produced by Tony Garnett. The film is based on the 1968 novel A Kestrel for a Knave, written by the Barnsley-born author Barry Hines. The film is ranked seventh in the British Film Institute's Top Ten (British) Films and among the top ten in its list of the 50 films you should see by the age of 14.
Fifteen-year-old Billy Casper has little hope in life. He is picked on, both at home by his physically and verbally abusive older half-brother, Jud, and at school, by his schoolmates and by abusive teachers. Although he insists that his earlier petty criminal behavior is behind him, he occasionally steals eggs and milk from milk floats. He has difficulty paying attention in school and is often provoked into tussles with classmates. Billy's father has left the family some time ago, and his mother refers to him at one point, while somberly speaking to her friends about her children and their chances in life, as a "hopeless case."
One day, Billy takes a kestrel from a nest on a farm. His interest in learning falconry prompts him to steal a book on the subject from a secondhand book shop, as he is underage and needs – but lies about the reasons he cannot obtain – adult authorization for a borrower's card from the public library. As the relationship between Billy and "Kes", the kestrel, improves during the training, so does Billy's outlook and horizons. For the first time in the film, Billy receives praise, from his English teacher after delivering an impromptu talk on his relationship with the bird.
Jud leaves money and instructions for Billy to place a bet on two horses, but, after consulting a bettor who tells him the horses are unlikely to win, Billy spends the money on fish and chips and intends to purchase meat for his bird (instead the butcher gives him scrap meat free of charge). However, the horses do win. Outraged at losing a payout of more than £10, Jud takes revenge by killing Billy's kestrel. Grief-stricken, Billy retrieves the bird's broken body from the waste bin and, after showing it to Jud and his mother, buries the bird on the hillside overlooking the field where he'd flown.
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