Kes

If you are not from the north of England you may have difficulty with the dialogue in this film but dont let it put you off this is a masterpiece.The story of a teenage boy with no friends and no hope set in the mining heartland of yorkshire in the sixties is absolutely authentic. He finds salvation from the grim reality of his existence when he rears and trains a young kestrel, which is the only thing in his young life that has any meaning.David Bradley who plays Billy Casper in the leading role is superb.There are many scenes from the film that are absolute gems, but here are a few that warrant a special mention.Brian Glover playing the role of billys physical education teacher is out of this world, why he was never nominated as best supporting actor for an oscar i will never know.Colin Welland (later to become an oscar winner himself for screenplay of chariots of fire) was also brilliant as billys form teacher.The film reaches out to you on many levels. In me it stirred horror, anger, humour and tears.I am quite sure it will also do the same to anyone who views this timeless masterpiece.

Kes is the story of a few weeks in the life of a schoolboy, Billy Casper, against the backdrop of social disintegration that was the north of England in the late 1960s. Billy finds and trains a kestrel, investing in it all the latent energy that his school and rough home life have suppressed, and finding in it a release from the all too present reality of the rest of his existence.

An outstanding performance from David Bradley as Billy glues together the sometimes shaky portrayals of the other characters. As a contemporary social commentary this is a film that has many of the elements you might expect. Billy has an impoverished family with an elder brother working down the pit and a single mother struggling to cope with the situation in which she finds herself. His school is staffed by teachers who react to their part in a failing system with aggression towards the pupils. And he's quite at home with petty crime, stealing a pint from the milkman and a volume to help him train the kestrel from the second hand bookshop. But the film is saved from cliché by the honesty of the acting and the quality of the direction; it seems at times as if we're watching a fly on the wall documentary. The reactions of the boys to the rant and the caning they receive for being caught smoking is entirely natural. Brian Glover as the sadistic games master is all too credible. And the employment interview is too close to my own experience to be fiction.

The film moves to its inevitable and unforgettable conclusion and we're left wondering what happened to Billy Casper after the filming finished.

This is a small, perfectly formed jewel of a film. Growing up in a similar small town, at the same time, in the north of England, I can vouch for its authenticity. The scenes and dialogue are very true to life: the paper round, morning assembly, the ordeal in the headmaster's office. The scrap in the playground, the fags behind the gym. Certainly I knew plenty of young lads like Billy Casper, though probably the circumstances weren't quite as grim as depicted - nobody I knew had to share a bed with an ogre of an older brother. The film is beautifully shot, with wonderful use of natural lighting, and very effective marrying of images to music. There are some great performances too: Brian Glover and Colin Welland have rightly passed into legend for their depiction of two very different teachers. Of course David Bradley is unforgettable, and dominates the story. The film has seeped into the consciousness of the group of friends I grew up with, and resonates still. Don't be put off by the subject matter; there are plenty of funny moments and overall the effect is to uplift the spirit.

It was a time when life was smothered by coal dust, when decades of decay had left just rust, in a forgotten northern town, there's no way up, directions down, any hope of getting out, completely crushed. But a passion seems to fall out of the sky, as a bird of prey is caught by your young eye, provides distraction from mundane, from those who treat you with disdain, spreading wings that help you sail up high and fly. Alas your joy and happiness is only fleeting, as there are those who'd rather give you a good beating, take away that piece of hope, to leave you on a greasy slope, but there's no point in calling out, wailing or bleating.

Ken Loach's (1969) film of Barry Hines' novel 'A Kestrel for a Knave' is written with Tony Garnett (Producer of 'Cathy Come Home' for BBC TV). Set in a mining community in the north of England it tells the story of young schoolboy Billy Casper (Dai Bradley) and his unexpected attachment to a Kestrel.

We join Billy in a fatherless family where Mum (Lynne Perrie) is struggling to keep things together and retain some semblance of control over Billy's fiery elder brother Jud (Freddie Fletcher).

Suddenly we see the well-established northern working class preoccupation with keeping pigeons elevated to an altogether higher plane as Billy begins to rear a kestrel chick. We follow him as he takes on the most challenging project of his life to date and becomes totally engrossed in learning everything he can about this wonderful bird; soon well on his way to becoming expert in the ancient art of falconry.

At school, Billy finds support from English teacher Mr Farthing (Colin Welland) who is not slow to recognise the impact this bird has had upon Billy's otherwise fractured and impoverished home life.

As Billy's imagination soars with his developing rapport with the bird, we share his keen enthusiasm and rich understanding of the nature of this sharp and noble predator.

But in doing so, we pay the price when Billy's troubled home life intervenes and robs him of what has become the powerful symbol of his ability to transcend the limitations of the tough and unforgiving community of which he is inexorably a part.

This is a great film that captures the unique ability of young people to find meaning and fulfilment in the darkest and most unpromising situations.