Kes (1969)

I remember when we first got a video in the early 80s and we'd only just worked out how to use it. One night Kes came on the telly and me and my brother taped it. We were about 9 and 11 years old. We watched that tape for years over and over again. We knew the whole film word for word from start to finish. My mum and dad are both from Barnsley, My dad went to school with Barry Hines. Eventually that tape either got lost or broken. Years later when I was grown up, Kes came on the telly one night so I sat down to watch it. I couldn't believe it when it came on, it had been dubbed over, the voices were different and the accents were nothing like as strong as the original. In the end I had to turn it off. I was gutted. Since then I have borrowed it on Video and then bought it on DVD and both times on the video and the DVD it is the dubbed version. You can not get the original anywhere anymore but nobody ever mentions this and I really don't understand it because it spoils the whole film. Surely there is somebody out there what remembers the original and realises that the DVD version has different voices put on. In some places it is the same but in most places it has been dubbed and it sounds awful. I just wish I could find the original version somewhere. I know that most people reading this will think that their DVD is the original version and wont have a clue what I am talking about because for some reason nobody apart from me and my brother seem to have noticed which I find hard to believe. If you own the film on DVD then I assure you it is NOT the original voices.

Fmovies: Kes is a film i was aware about all the way back to when i was at school (it was made the year after i was born)but i never got around to seeing it until now and boy am i pleased i did. Rarely is there a film that exudes charm like Kes. The acting is not brilliant , neither is the script but that is what makes this film such a joy. It made me feel i was back at school amongst the self important jumped up teachers and the cruel kids .It made me remember the times when i was a teenager that i didnt care for at the time yet it also made me long to be that age again! The story is of a young lad who through having a bad time at school and with his family he finds solice in training a young bird of prey. David bradley (Casper) is excellent ,as is Brian Glover as the P.E teacher who likes to think he is Bobby Charlton. The scene when he takes the boys out to play football is brilliant . The cinemetography is superb and the haunting music contributes to what can only be described as Very good movie. 8 out of 10.

My favourite film of all time. Admittedly I haven't seen this film ( movie ) for years. A stark portrayal of late sixties/ early seventies northern Britain at a time of ( still ) post war miserablism and not unlike my own school experience. Receiving " the belt " as punishment for little reason other than the teacher's inability to control a class or just their own boredom. Classic football ( soccer ) scene with the wonderful Brian Glover. Sigh. Did Ken Loach make a better film in the rest of his career? " My Name is Joe " was a great movie of desperation in the poverty stricken,drug addled, hinterland of 90's/2000's Scotland. Desperately sad, desperately funny. Kes,however has my vote as it was one of my earliest moving film experiences.

Kes fmovies. One of the defining films of my life. Very few films have come so close to accurately portraying Northern, English, Working Class life. Anyone from outside of this kind of community may find it grim and not appreciate the all the references. As someone who grew up at the same time and in a similar environment as the film then all I can see is the wit, spirit and sensitivity displayed in the face of individual and institutionalised brutality.

David Bradley as Billy is superb and even more amazing is the fact he did nothing before or since this film. All of the incidental characters are played by local residents - unfortunately this is sometimes clearly obvious. The football match however is, in my opinion, a classic cinematic moment.

The film has become even more poignant since many similar communities have since been devastated by the Thatcherite induced collapse of Britain's industrial base.

All in all a exceeding moving, funny, honest and captivating account of a young boy's life in a sometimes hostile, sometimes beautiful environment.

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.

From the start,the hero's future is at a complete standstill.His familiar background -an indifferent mother and a brute of a brother-leaves him no hope .His school seems an alien world,of which he cannot take advantage,where the adults are hostile.The gymnastics teacher is a failed football player,and now,with his students,he's still dreaming he's coaching his football team for glory.And because he 's getting old and embittered,he uses a scapegoat when things go wrong:and of course,he always chooses our unfortunate hero.The shower scene enhances ,so to speak,the psychological and pedagogical "aptitudes" of this dumb-and a bit sadistic-man.

So,the young boy needs someone to love,and because he cannot find one,he tames an hawk.This hawk epitomizes freedom,escape from this petty microcosm.In direct contrast to the gym teacher,appears the English teacher.He wants the young boy to give a presentation on his hawk.And,in front of a spellbound class,the dog has his day.Thanks to this clever man,the boy acquires self-confidence and maybe his studies will take a new turn.

But Kenneth Loach's characters rarely escape from their fate.Because of his brother's cruelty,all hopes will be blighted,and the boy's future will probably that of the two lads in "looks and smiles". Kenneth Loach or the wrong side of England.