KES, drama
31.I.2008 19:00 LaLucza
director Ken Loach
Great Britain, 110 min., 1969
1960s British film-making showed much of its potential in this now classic movie chronicling the boyhood experiences of Billy (David Bradley), whose expectations lead no further than following his father into the pits when he reaches manhood. Everything changes when he finds Kes, an injured Kestrel, whom he nurses and cherishes back to health. Their relationship becomes symbolic of a doomed attempt to escape the drudgery of the industrial North. Kes is a beautiful, moving and compassionate film, realistic and often funny. Written and directed by Ken Loach, that most politically committed of British film-makers, Kes is one of his most impassioned works of this gifted director.