2. *Social Realism can be defined as "the realistic depiction in art of
contemporary life, as a means of social or political comment." This applies
directly to this film as it follows a real part of British youth culture history. Ken
Loach’s Kes, portrays working-class Northern England. “Billy” is a fifteen-
year-old miner’s son whose close bond with a wild kestrel provides him with
a spiritual escape from his mediocre and monotonous life.
*In terms of the social and political context Kes brings to light the British
“angry young man” of the sixties. Loach increases the already astounding
sense of social realism by using real locations and nonprofessional actors.
The actor for Billy is played by the unknown young actor of David Bradley.
Bradley was born in the hamlet of Stubbs, near Barnsley, South Yorkshire.
He was not involved in any acting apart from amateur Christmas pantos. At
the age of 14, he won the part of Billy Casper in Kes, earning a newcomer
BAFTA for his realistic performance of the character. Using an unknown
actor creates a far grittier and harder hitting edge to this film as it takes upon
the crucial task of recreating a high sense of verisimilitude with ease. The
actor in a sense does not need to act, due to the film revolving around a
lifestyle he already acquires.
3. *The plot of the film follows 15-year-old Billy Casper, who has little hope in life
and is bullied, both at home by his physically and verbally abusive half-
brother, Jud, and at school. He is mischievous and portrays an emotionally
neglected boy with little self-respect. Billy's mother refers to him in the film as
a "hopeless case" The film shows scenes of Billy's school; the headmaster
canes a group of boys who were caught smoking. Here you can see this
scene and the harsh caning from 3:00 onwards.
*CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO
*The pan at the start of the shot follows the teacher as he orders the students
about, the students are blurred and out of focus in the background to show
his dominance. Whilst the teacher shouts and aggressively certifies his
power over the students he is out of shot and the camera focuses on the
reactions of the students. The students are uneven in height, size , costume
and stature making them seem unorganised and a weak opposition to the
strongly suited man. Only a pointing finger can be seen at the side of the
shot which shows his presence over them. As the scene continues the
camera cuts to a point of view shot that looks between the shoulders of the
boys at the raging man, who stand positioned behind a desk of authority and
stature. He uses sophisticated levels of language whilst the youngest child
4. *Billy’s greatest fear is ending up working down the pit as a coal miner. This
reflects the context of the time as until the early Seventies British miners
were amongst the lowest paid workers in the developed world. To rebel from
this proposed future he finds an outlet through training a kestrel that he takes
from a nest on a farm. As the relationship between Billy and "Kes" the
kestrel, improves during the training, so does Billy's outlook and horizons.
Again the sense of realism is increased here with the directors instruction
that the actor and the birds used should spend hours of training together, to
form a real bond. For the first time in the film, Billy receives praise, from his
English teacher after delivering an spontaneous talk on his relationship with
the bird.
*There are many contrasting scenes within the film that really show the
positive impact Kes has upon the young troubled character. Billy’s previous
life is filmed mainly in a monotone grey with scenes of pain, anguish and
hopelessness. As soon as the bird is introduced a quarter of the way through
the film the world of Billy is brightened considerably and the scenes change
to those of fields and a sense of freedom.
5. *At the end of the film Billy angers his brother Jud by losing him money. Jud
takes revenge by killing his kestrel, whose body Billy retrieves from the bin.
After showing the kestrel to Jud and his mother, Billy buries his kestrel in the
garden. Loach again increases the realism by telling the actor at the time that
the bird he had been working with was really killed (when in reality they had
used an already dead kestrel) and only revealing the true bird afterwards.
This provides a powerful end to the film as Billy’s true coming of age is
culminated by the detachment of the bird and his realisation of new horizons.
*This film is British in many ways. The director Ken Loach was born and lived
in England where the film is also set. The actors are also all British and of
course the main actor is extremely similar to his character in terms of
location, upbringing, social status etc. Therefore the writer, director, set and
cast are all British which I feel make these film foundations British. The film
also follows a period of time and a youth culture/scene that appeared in
Britain. The ideas, script, and subject matter are all focused around the
British nature. British ideals and political or social attitudes of the time are
also shown particularly within the struggles and situations of people at the
time (e.g miners).
