169: Kes

Ken Loach’s Kes (1969) isn’t a bad film, but it isn’t anything all that spectacular either.  It tells the story of a runtish kid from Barnsley, in industrial Northern England, who finds hope in his empty life from the discovery of a kestrel falcon.  Not quite an animal picture and not quite a coming of age tale, Kes is lost somewhere in between.  Much as with Suspiria (1977; #173), I found myself thinking about another film, made long afterward, throughout much of its runtime.  Billy Elliot (2000) succeeded where, for me, this film failed.  While I related to the primary protagonist of Kes, coincidentally a Billy (David Bradley) as well, I didn’t find that I cared much about the brief reprieve from oppression he finds in training his winged pet.  With Billy Elliot, set in a similar venue of industrial oppression, I cared deeply about that character’s emotional escape.

            No technical element of this film in particular stands out as reason for its failure to draw me in.  Its production is on par for an independent feature made in Britain at the time, and its performances hold their own.  I believe the characters of Billy’s family and their situation of working class poverty, as well as the other authority figures in his life that seem unable to understand him.  In fact, I’d say that many of the scenes which feature these characters resonate with me much more so than those of Billy with his bird.  Particularly good is a scene in which the young man is forced to dress for Gym in a pair of shorts made for a boy twice his size.  In this brief vignette the character experiences his most universal humiliation.

            As I wrote, the relationship with the falcon that the boy finds and trains didn’t interest me much.  Obviously the raptor is a metaphor for liberty, as it flies free above the world and the harsh realities of the row houses and coal mines below.  Yet I feel that this literary flourish is incomplete.  If the kestrel represents the autonomy that Billy wishes for, then why does he tether the bird?  Does he wish to control this symbol of freedom as he is controlled by his mother, his brother, and his teachers?  As it stands, the film’s ending does not address these questions, instead choosing to galvanize the harsh realities of Billy’s world through an act of cruelty.  I’ll opt not to drop that spoiler here, but if you are compelled to see this film, do check out the “Trivia” section on the Kes page at imdb.com afterward to see how Loach chose to elicit emotion from his young actor in the final scene.

Grade: 1.5 Hats Off

Note: Usually when people complain during films that they can't understand British accents, or any other accents for that matter, it drives me crazy.  Get some culture, don't be a xenophobe, and just pay attention! You'll be surprised at the capacity of the human brain to understand.  For this one, those who cry out for subtitles might have a legitimate beef.