Why the poignant Kes is Britain’s greatest coming-of-age story

First released in November 1969, director Ken Loach’s socially realist story of a boy who adopts a kestrel still resonates and remains a timeless classic of British cinema.

When director Ken Loach and producer Tony Garnett first screened Kes for British film executives in the fall of 1969, they knew they had created something authentic and important.

Based on Barry Hynes’ 1968 novel A Kestrel For a Knave and written by Roach, Hynes and Garnett, Kes follows Billy Casper, a South Yorkshire teenager raised in a dysfunctional family. (Die Bradley) depicts the story of his struggles at school. He gave a new life to a newly hatched kestrel when he adopted him, trained him, and named him “Kes.”

However, Roach and Garnett’s excitement for the film did not last long. At the end of the screening, executives said, with very heavy accents, that because Kes is a very regional story, it was first shown in the Yorkshire city of Doncaster and had limited screening in British cinemas. I told him that there was no. “The idea was that this was a local film for local people,” explains Professor David Forrest, who teaches film and television studies at the University of Sheffield and recently wrote: BFI Film Classics book on Kes.

Roach and Garnett were adamant that the executives were wrong. They said Kes was a film for everyone, and that “the central image of Billy and the bird was poetic and had universal relevance and appeal,” Forrest told the BBC. . To ensure a release worthy of the drama, Garnett enlisted the help of friends at national newspapers. “He campaigned against it,” Forrest said. “The Guardian, the Times, and others have written about people being stopped from watching movies. So obviously when you tell someone something is forbidden, it makes it seem more appealing.” ”

When Kes was widely released in late March 1970, it quickly garnered critical acclaim. Penelope Huston, writing in The Spectator called It’s a “real, resolute little movie.” Roger Ebert wrote that the film was “one of the greatest, warmest, most moving films of recent years” when it was finally released in U.S. theaters in 1973. It also became a word-of-mouth hit across the UK, resulting in two blockbusters. At the 1971 BAFTAs, Colin Welland won Best Supporting Actor for his role as Mr. Farthing, and Bradley was named Most Promising Newcomer in a Leading Motion Picture. But Kes’ impact goes far beyond box office numbers and awards won.

“It’s still relevant,” Simon Golding, author of the 2006 book Life After Kes, told the BBC. “Even though times have changed, it hasn’t gotten old. It’s a classic.”

Fifty-five years after Kes premiered in London on November 14, 1969, the coming-of-age drama continues to be regarded as one of Britain’s greatest films. In 2000, British Film Institute It was ranked 7th on the list of the top 10 British films ever made. Kes’s influence can be seen in the subtlety of Shane Meadow’s work, the heart of Billy Elliot, the dry humor of The Full Monty, and Andrea Arnold’s wildly poetic exploration of working-class life. You can. Director Krzysztof Kieslowski called it While one of his favorite movies; Christopher Eccleston, andrew garfield, samantha morton and Daniel Day-Lewis He talked about what inspired him to become an actor.

Forrest believes Kes has had a huge impact and continues to resonate because people identify with Billy’s character. “There is a universality to this film and its message: family struggles, school struggles, not fitting in, the joys of childhood, the impending realities of work, and the uncertainty of the future,” he said. say. Lojo’s directorial style makes the film feel very realistic and authentic, giving the themes even more authenticity. “They’re really trying to collapse the boundaries between documentary and fiction, allowing people to feel political injustice, economic injustice, social injustice that wasn’t shown on television.” Forrest says.

To accomplish this, Roach used many of the same artistic choices as the directors of the “kitchen sink” dramas of the late 1950s and 1960s. He shot in real world locations such as: st helens school They hired non-professional actors in Barnsley, South Yorkshire. In fact, Welland was the only active actor to appear in the film, having taught at Lee’s school before appearing in the BBC series Z-Cars. At the same time, Roach filmed Kes “from a distance,” Golding explained, noting that the cast could not see anyone else’s script. “It allowed for a lot of improvisation and allowed the actors to make mistakes and do whatever they wanted.”

But kitchen-sink dramas like Look Back (1959), Room at the Top (1959), and Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960) While “Angry Young Men” is about the frustrations, alienation, and desires of its protagonists, these characters often become their own worst enemies when it comes to running away. They end up staying in a job they hate, getting into the wrong fight, sleeping with the wrong woman, and their lives take a different turn or get stuck.

However, in Kes’ case, Roach makes it clear that Billy’s lack of future options is not his own fault. Instead, Billy and other children like him were disappointed in the British education system. From 1945 to 1970, 10- and 11-year-olds took an exam known as the 11 Plus, which determined the type of school they attended. Students who failed exams and were sent to less ambitious schools often ended up in manual labor jobs, including dangerous work in the mines. Billy is one of those kids. He is destined to work in the coal mines because he dropped to 11 plus, and most of the teachers around him are not interested in finding out if he has other interests. In Life After Kess, Roach said the film should be “dedicated to all the young people who have failed their grades over the age of 11. Too often, a huge amount of talent is wasted.”

This was one of the reasons why Roach looked for someone to play Billy who was not an actor who had failed the 11-year test. “That was the whole point of this movie,” Golding says. “He wanted to show that what the movie says is true: there was untapped talent among the kids who failed the exam more than 11 times.”15 Despite struggling to come up with a budget of £70,000, Golding says Roach, Garnett and Hynes stuck to their ambitions to make the film because they “knew it was politically correct”. “They knew the story was true.”

When Kes was released, the teachers’ reaction proved how right they were. “Good teachers loved it, bad teachers hated it,” says Golding, and Forrest says the film is not just an attack on the education system, but more broadly about how it “builds up people.” he pointed out. “Billy doesn’t conform to any ideals of working-class masculinity,” Forrest says. “He’s no good at school. He’s bullied. He’s ostracized by society. But he’s brilliant in a lot of other things that aren’t really represented or recognized by the curriculum or by society.”

Rather than being weighed down by strong themes of bullying and poverty, Kes remains fun, funny, and ultimately hopeful despite some undeniably sad moments. Loach blends John Cameron’s simple but hopeful music with Chris Menges’ bright, natural cinematography to create a soaring scene of Billy’s growing bond with Kestrel. The scene in which a PE teacher pretends to be Bobby Charlton to play a game of football with his students has become British film legend, thanks to the deceptive excitement of Brian Glover’s performance and Roach’s use of the theme. It is engraved. BBC radio sports report The song had been played weekly on British radio since 1948 and was known to millions of people. Meanwhile, Bradley gently shows Billy growing in confidence, especially when Billy details his relationship with Kes in front of the class. And when Mr. Farthing (Welland) goes the extra mile to connect with Billy, it suggests that even in the darkness, hope can be found.

Roach, Garnett, and Hines’ refusal to take the film into overly whimsical and sentimental territory only added to the film’s reputation and influence. This approach is best seen in the final scene. After his brother Jud’s (Freddie Fletcher) bet fails, Billy returns home to find that Jud has killed Kes and dumped the kestrel’s corpse in the garbage. Their mother (Lynn Perry) lightly reprimands Jud, insisting that he shouldn’t do that, but is more concerned about the dead bird in her kitchen.

In other films, it could be heavily implied that this is the beginning of Billy’s life with animals. Perhaps Mr. Farthing will offer Billy a job at the zoo. Some people advised that such a scene should be included in Loach. “That completely misses the point,” Golding says. “This is not the end for Billy Casper. This is just the end of a chapter. Life is a series of events. He will go on to do something else.”

Instead, Kes ends up simply burying the kestrel on a hillside overlooking the field Billy flew with. “There’s something really powerful about the way this film resists symbolism and the idea that birds don’t just mean freedom,” Forrest says. “It goes beyond that. We know that Billy has perseverance and the ability to foster relationships with non-human people. This movie is more optimistic than people think. I argue that there is.”

Social mobility remains high in the UK relatively limitedand opportunities for working-class people remain precious, so Forrest believes finding hope in Kes is just as important today as it was when the film was released. “There is a sense of inequality that exists in Britain and its cities. KES remains a very powerful resource. It not only tells us what life was like in the late 1960s, it also tells us how we live today. It also teaches us how to create a better world.”