History Film / Kes

* OhCrap: Billy's reaction when he learns that Jud would have won over £10 had he placed the bet. [[note]]£16 in 1969 would become approximately £259 in 2018. Bloody hell indeed, Billy.[[/note]]

* TeensAreMonsters: Jud. [[spoiler:When Billy doesn't bet on any horses, [[DisproportionateRetribution he retaliates]] [[EvilIsPetty by murdering Kes]].]]

* WorldOfJerkass: Excluding Billy and one of his teachers, Mr. Farthing, every other character in the movie is shown to be a callous, cruel, and unrepentant {{Jerkass}} with ''zero'' empathy who like to go out their way to make Billy and the other kids' lives miserable.

* OhCrap: Billy's reaction when he learns that Jud would have won £10 had he placed the bet. [[note]]£10 in 1969 would become approximately £162 in 2018. Bloody hell indeed, Billy.[[/note]]

* SoundtrackDissonance: The film's score is overall very light and whimsical, which heavily contrasts against the bleak setting and tone, [[TropesAreNotBad though it helps to keep the film from sliding into total soul-crushing nihilism]].

** Some minor development is given to Mr. Farthing, who starts off as sceptical and dismissive of Billy as the other teachers, but he quickly warms up to the lad after seeing the boy's electric passion for falconry and witnessing for himself the extent to which Billy is unfairly ostracised at school.

* TokenGoodTeammate: Out of all the teachers, Mr. Farthing is the only one to ever stick up for and empathise with Billy, even going so far as to give the schoolyard bully [=MacDowell=] a taste of his own medicine.

* TokenGoodTeammate: Out of all the teachers, Mr. Farthing is the only one to ever stick up for and empathise with Billy, even going so far as to give the schoolyard bully MacDowell a taste of his own medicine.

** Billy's name is likely derived from the phrase "Billy No-Mates" in reference to his isolation. Although {{Downplayed}} slightly, as he does have a few friends, but none of them are very reliable.

* OopNorth: This film is set in Yorkshire.

* Delinquents: Billy is a former one and we follow him on the road to change, although that doesn't stop him from relapsing.

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:Jud kills Kes. Billy and his mother give the bird a funeral by the hills he used to train with Billy.]]

** Billy is also remarkably acrobatic

* TokenGoodTeammate: Out of all the teachers, Mr. Farthing is the only one to ever stick up for and empathise with Billy.

* SoundtrackDissonance: The film's score is overall very light and whimsical, which heavily contrasts against the bleak setting and tone, [[TropesAreNotBad though it helps to keep the film from sliding into total nihilism]].

* WouldHurtAChild: As mentioned on SadistTeacher, most teachers in Kes like to yell at kids for very minor infractions and even slap them or hit them with a cane, [[ValuesDissonance as was common practice in schools throughout the early to mid 20th century]].
* YankTheDogsChain: Perhaps one of the cruellest in even Ken Loach's library, [[spoiler: but at virtually the exact moment things start to look up for Billy, his own brother spitefully murders Kes, bringing the boy back to the miserable, passionless existence he had at the story's beginning]].

* YankTheDogsChain: Perhaps one of the cruellest in even Ken Loach's library, [[spoiler: but almost the exact moment things start to look up for Billy, his own brother spitefully murders Kes, bringing the boy back to the miserable, passionless existence he had at the story's beginning]].

* CharacterDevelopment: For Billy after he adopts Kes the Kestrel.

%%* JuvenileDelinquents: Billy is a former one and we follow him on the road to change, although that doesn't stop him from relapsing.

* SadistTeacher: Nearly all the teacher characters in Kes are portrayed as very cruel and terrible people who constantly abuse their power and look for any excuse to punish and scream at a student, even for coughing!

* WouldHurtAChild: As mentioned on SadistTeacher, The teachers in Kes like to yell at kids for very minor reasons and even slap them or hit them with a cane.

In the mining town of Barnsley in Yorkshire, fifteen-year-old Billy Casper (David Bradley) is the child pariah of the area. He is bullied at home and bullied at school by everyone, making his mother feel as if she can never understand him. This is probably because Billy has a history of stealing but has left it behind him, although he'll occasionally steal some eggs and milk, and nobody wants to trust him. With the whole world seemingly against him, Billy becomes interested in kestrels and uses his skills of deception, sneakiness, and theft to try and train the animal falconry.

* CrapsackWorld: Downplayed. The portrayal of northern england in Kes isn't exactly pretty.

''Kes'' is a 1969 film by Creator/KenLoach, based on the novel ''A Kestrel for a Knave'' by Barry Hines. It starred (relatively) unknown actors with perhaps a handful that people might recognise, which has led to the movie being categorised by film historians as a [[{{realism}} social realist]] movie. It was Loach's second film that he ever made and became a BreakthroughHit when released, although the thick-accented characters [[WhatTheHellIsThatAccent made the film stumble a little]] outside of the UK.

* TeensAreMonsters: Jud. [[spoiler:When Billy doesn't bet on any horses, he retaliates by murdering Kes.]]

%* JuvenileDelinquents: Billy is a former one and we follow him on the road to change, although that doesn't stop him from relapsing.

%%* JuvenileDelinquents: Billy is a former one and we follow him on the road to change, although that doesn't stop him from relapsing.

%* JuvenileDelinquents: Billy is a former one and we follow him on the road to change, although that doesn't stop him from relapsing.

% JuvenileDelinquents: Billy is a former one and we follow him on the road to change, although that doesn't stop him from relapsing.

* DesparatelyLookingForAPurposeInLife: Billy. He finds his purpose after he meets Kes.

* JuvenileDelinquents: Billy is a former one and we follow him on the road to change, although that doesn't stop him from relapsing.

!! Tropes

Kes is a 1969 film by Creator/KenLoach. It is his second movie and a BreakthroughHit.

* BigBrotherBully: Jud for Billy. Actually he is only his half-brother.

* OopNorth: This film was shot in Yorkshire

Kes is a 1969 film by Ken Loach. It is his second movie and a BreakthroughHit.