mark g
Watch this movie if anything just to watch the iconic, brilliant 'football match scene' with the late, great Brian Glover "a rare delight". Brilliant !
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
01/21/24
Full Review
John H
Very good coming of age movie set in a mean and bleak world for protagonist. His family school and others beat him over the head and wonder why he has issues.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
01/15/24
Full Review
Jorja
Worst film I've ever seen and I've seen a lot. The acting was awful and the plot was non existent
Rated 0.5/5 Stars •
Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars
11/10/23
Full Review
ian b
Brilliant. Seen it loads of times. Never ages.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
09/17/23
Full Review
Matthew B
A Kestrel for a Knave was a book that has often formed part of the English syllabus in schools, and I am impressed that a book with such subject matter should acquire this honoured status. Ken Loach's film version, Kes is also considered suitable for older children, and doubtless many schoolchildren who read the book were also made to watch the film.
It seems like a different age when political discussion was less infantilised, and it was possible for a book written by a socialist to be part of the mainstream education agenda, and indeed a work that criticises teaching in schools, and promotes reading and independent learning.
Kes was directed by Ken Loach, a moviemaker of great integrity, who began a long collaboration with Barry Hines, in which he adapted the writer's scripts for movie or television. This led to many of Loach's early films being set in Yorkshire.
Kes was Ken Loach's second feature film, and the one that made his name. It is still one of his most popular movies, but Loach's emphasis on authenticity has often made the widespread circulation of his movies difficult. For Kes, Loach kept the action in Barnsley, the home town of Barry Hines. The location is not mentioned in the film, but the Yorkshire accents were real enough, and many of the actors came from around the area.
For this reason, American audiences struggled with the accents and dialect, and it is not uncommon for the film to be shown in America with subtitles. It was to be two years before the film was finally released over there. The dialogue is genuine in another way – the use of swearing and coarse language.
Ken Loach began his career as a director for television, and perhaps this accounts for his emphasis on a more naturalistic style of moviemaking. His films have a grainy look. Some scenes are not well-lit. He employs jerky, hand-held cameras. Kes was filmed in sequence. The movie was made on a low budget, and the settings are suitably dreary.
With the exception of Colin Welland and a few others, the cast were mostly not professional actors. Even Brian Glover, now a well-known figure from British television, was working as a teacher at the time. The headmaster that we see in the film was a real headmaster. Welland spent a week teaching in a school to make his performance seem more credible. The children really were caned by the headteacher, and paid 50p extra for their trouble.
The subject matter of Kes, as with all of Loach's later films, is ordinary people. He deals in the unglamorous and mundane lives of working-class folk – working down the pit, drinking in clubs with live music performers, reading Desperate Dan comic strips, children with paper rounds, fish and chips, chatting with the milkman, or betting on the horses at the bookie's.
Billy's love for Kes, the kestrel that he takes home, will help to take his mind to new places. This is a boy who did not even know where to find his local library, and yet he tries to join it so that he can borrow a book on kestrel training. When he is unable to become a member of the library, he steals a book. He has a dream, and this encourages him to learn.
His new pastime even earns Billy some rare praise at school. He is asked to speak to the class about a subject of interest, and he is pushed into discussing Kes. His teacher Mr Farthing (Colin Welland) is genuinely interested in Billy's words, and even agrees to visit Billy and watch him as he trains Kes.
Billy's predicament is that he knows that the rest of his life will not imrprove. Asked why he does not wish to go work when he does not like school, he replies, "I don't (like school), but it dun't mean to say I'll like work". He adds, "Still, I'll get paid for not likin' it." His position is stark, and the ending of the movie offers little hope that he can escape his fate.
Nonetheless his position touches the heart, and shows that it is possible to make affecting drama about ordinary situations and poor people without reducing them to figures of comedy or pity. Kes helped to establish Ken Loach as the poet for the ordinary man, and he has consolidated that position ever since.
I wrote a longer appreciation of Kes on my blog page if you would like to read more: https://themoviescreenscene.wordpress.com/2019/04/28/kes-1969/
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
08/28/23
Full Review
Kliff H
Life is hard and full of retarded bullies. Kes is a growing flower in the soil, reaching for the stars. Cruel and brilliant, humane and painful.
Rated 4.5/5 Stars •
Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars
07/13/23
Full Review
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