Line #33 Film/Kes


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kes_1969.jpg]]
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3	''Kes'' is a 1969 British drama film directed by Creator/KenLoach, [[TheFilmOfTheBook 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 made the film stumble a little outside of the UK.
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5	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 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 his wild-caught bird for falconry.
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7	His passion and achievement in his new hobby win Billy some respect and friends at school, but unfortunately not with his own family.
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9	----
10	!!Tropes
11	* AllOfTheOtherReindeer: Billy is not only bullied at home, but at school, too. Even by the teachers.
12	* AttentionDeficitOohShiny: Billy has a terribly short attention span, especially in school. It's part of why he's such an attractive target for the many [[SadistTeacher Sadist Teachers]].
13	* BigBrotherBully: Jud for Billy, even though they're half-brothers.
14	* BreakTheCutie: [[spoiler:The news of Kes's death at Jud's hand utterly destroys Billy]].
15	%%* ButtMonkey: Billy.
16	%%How? A character's name isn't context.
17	* CharacterDevelopment:
18	** For Billy after he adopts Kes the Kestrel. He steadily comes out of his shell, but his overall dissociated attitude doesn't change too much.
19	** 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 his electric passion for falconry and witnessing for himself the extent to which Billy is unfairly ostracised at school.
20	* ChildHater: The teacher characters are very likely this, given how they constantly treat their students.
21	* CrapsackWorld: Downplayed. The portrayal of Northern England in Kes isn't exactly pretty.
22	* {{Delinquents}}: Billy is a former one and we follow him on the road to change, although that doesn't stop him from relapsing.
23	* DesperatelyLookingForAPurposeInLife: Billy. He finds his purpose after he meets Kes.
24	* DisappearedDad: Billy's father left the family when Billy was a young boy; his mother believes that growing up without a father has contributed to the lad's apparent lack of direction or ambition.
25	* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:Jud kills Kes. Billy gives the bird a funeral by the hills where he used to train with her.]]
26	* HateSink: While Billy's brother Jud is probably the most despicable character, his mother and teachers aren't far behind.
27	* HiddenDepths:
28	** To every other kid in school, Billy's kestrel training hobby comes off as this, especially since he's usually so quiet and boorish. When he makes a presentation showing his passion for it, the other kids start paying more attention to him.
29	** Billy is also remarkably acrobatic.
30	* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler:Jud gets no comeuppance for murdering Kes aside from losing out on the week's unpaid leave from work he could have taken with his racing winnings and being [[AdultsAreUseless weakly told off by his mum]], which is a pretty regular occurrence anyway.]]
31	* KidsAreCruel: It's rare to find a kid that is nice to Billy.
32	* KitchenSinkDrama: From the regional accents to the bleak ending, this is definitely a social realist film.
33	* MeaningfulName:
34	** Kes is obviously short for kestrel, the name of the species of the bird.
35	** Billy's name is likely derived from the phrase "Billy No-Mates" in reference to his isolation. Continuing off of this, his surname, Casper, could possibly be an ironic reference to a certain [[WesternAnimation/CasperTheFriendlyGhost friendly cartoon ghost]]. Although {{Downplayed}} slightly, as he does have a few friends, but none of them are very reliable.
36	* NiceGuy: Mr. Farthing, despite initially coming off as dismissive of Billy, is the nicest of his teachers.
37	* OhCrap: Billy's reaction when he learns that Jud would have won £16 had he placed the bet. [[note]]£16 in 1969 would become approximately £225 in 2022. Bloody hell indeed, Billy.[[/note]]
38	* OopNorth: This film is set in Yorkshire, and the characters speak in the local dialect.
39	* PrecisionFStrike: One use of "twat" and several uses of "bugger" was enough for the British censors to argue over whether the movie should be rated as suitable for all or a PG. It later settled on a PG.
40	* SadistTeacher: Nearly all the teacher characters in Kes are portrayed as very cruel, tyrannical people who constantly abuse their power and look for any excuse to punish or scream at a student, even for coughing.
41	* SmallNameBigEgo: The PE teacher seems to think he's hot shit at football despite being overweight and shorter than most of the boys in his class, treating the football game as SeriousBusiness and blatantly breaking the rules to get an edge (although the team of which he appoints himself captain still loses 2-1).
42	* SoundtrackDissonance: The film's score is overall very light and whimsical, which heavily contrasts against the bleak setting and tone, [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools though it does help to keep the film from sliding into total soul-crushing nihilism]].
43	* SuckySchool: In Billy's school, nearly all of the teachers are as cruel as his bullying fellow students.
44	* TeensAreMonsters: Jud. [[spoiler:When Billy doesn't put Jud's bet on, [[DisproportionateRetribution he retaliates]] [[EvilIsPetty by murdering Kes]].]] Jud's age is uncertain, but Freddie Fletcher was 19 when the film was made.
45	* 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. He's easily the most likeable supporting character in the picture.
46	* WorldOfJerkass: Excluding Billy, Kes, and one of Billy's 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.
47	* WouldHurtAChild: 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]].
48	* 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 half-brother spitefully murders Kes, bringing the boy back to the miserable, passionless existence he had at the story's beginning]].

Context Film / Kes