I usually have mixed feelings about "all time best of" lists of movies. Not least by "so-called" authorities like critics, television and directors. Even if I review movies myself, it is my goal to give you my personal point of view as much as I can, without peaking too much at what other may think. A consensus may have evolved into a religion where nobody dares to critique it anymore, in any other fashion like the one that everyone seem to follow. Often, there is some substance to the consensus, but other times things have grown out of proportion. The best case may be "Star Wars", "Citizen Kane" or "2001". They are brilliant movies - but they are not necessarily as good as their reputation.
This is not to poison the well regarding "Kes", I want to make that clear, but it is placed at the 7th best place, on BFI´s top 100 british movies of the 20th century list. To compare, "A clockwork Orange" is placed at 81 on the same list. 81? There may be some issues on whether or not Clockwork is a british or an american movie and that could explain some of it. But 81?? And "Kes" at 7 ! Sometimes I don't understand what is going on. But I will not let a consensus guide my own impression of a movie. It also makes it less interesting going into a movie if you are too overwhelmed by what other people think, and tend to "go" with the consensus rather than state your honest opinion. In the end it is always a subjective judgment, so objective "Best of" lists are kind of ridiculous and fallacious.
Billy Casper (played by 15 year old David Bradley) is a teenager living in socially dysfunctional, economic devastated and authoritarian mining community. Everything Billy does is wrong and everything he doesn't do is also wrong. As a scrawny kid he is the target of older boys in school and is basically being treated as a piece of garbage. The school teachers are sadistically, controlling and demeaning towards everyone, not least Billy. His brother is violent and abusive, his single mother is more concerned with guys than taking care of her "family". Billy's "world" is a hell on earth.
He retreats to the hills and the forest to get away from everything and one day he spots a kestrel in a ruined tower. He manages to catch it and keep it in a shed near his home. Billy does not have any money and since no one shows him any respect, why should he show respect for anyone else. He is used to steal milk off of the milkman's van - so he steals a book about falconeering in an antique shop.
He trains Kes, as he calls the bird, to sit on his hand, eat of of his hand. He has found something that he is actually good at, that he is passioned about and that spurs his interest in learning reading. In this godforsaken world, something actually makes sense.
But the days keep going in the old ways and only when Billy is told to stand up and tell of his "falconeering" adventure in school, does a teacher actually have some sympathy for the poor boy. He stands up for him in the school yard and comes visiting to see him train his bird.
But just as everything seem to start to go in the right direction, his old habit of stealing, makes things go for the worse. Billy is not supposed to get out of his "prison". When he does what everyone else do towards him, it becomes his nemesis.
Kes is a bit of a rarity. When it comes to british socially realistic movies from the 60´s, of Kes´calibre, it is hard for me to think of any other. It has its share of typical late sixties, early seventies feel to it (though my DVD copy certainly is not the best version available, so I disclaim). But it has a brownish, soft look to it and a thin soundtrack, that I would wish had a bit more oomph to it. But it is an "old" movie, I get that.
The best aspect of this movie is Bradleys´natural portrayal of Billy. I challenge you to find an equally natural looking and sounding kid, who fits its part as well as Bradley does here. He almost gives it documentary feel, that is how good this young man is. Apart from him, the supporting actors are all round very good, and gives good performances as these quirky, dysfunctional and sadistic characters, who all seem to try to fit into a violent power structure - by trying to control and belittle everyone else.
At times it feels like the director just throws everything at the boy in order to make things overwhelmingly bad. And it is a redeeming aspect that Billy does get a bit of a friend in a teacher. I would have wished a bit more focus on the scenery and the buildings. This is a time mostly gone by, and the way things looked back then has its certain charm. And a bit more focus on that would have added to the feel.
Loach is not sentimentalist though and he is also very honest in how he portrays everyone. it is in that regard a pretty groundbreaking movie that does not try too much to lecture you or point at good versus bad directly, though there are not that many conclusions one can draw. It is a very decent early attempt at making a sort of british "400 Blows"-like "nouvelle vague style movie. And to be honest, in many ways I prefer this one over "400 Blows" (a very overrated movie in my opinion)
In the end the story feels a bit too thin and we don't get too much of the parallels with the "training" of the bird metaphorical comparison to the "training" of Billy. It is so obvious, but I guess it is a difficult one to go with cinematographically. I felt a bit disappointed in the end. I would have liked it to be more focused. The ending seems inevitable and it is quite heartbreaking, even if the acting limitations of Bradley starts to sift through here.
Kes gets my recommended for an early attempt at modern british cinema and for a very solid performance by the child actor. The rest is just satisfactory with a few stand out scenes.
7/10